Molecular evidence for the early divergence of placental mammals

Abstract

Paleontological and molecular data suggest quite different patterns for the early evolution of placental mammals. Paleontological evidence indicates a radiation, with most of the extant orders diverging at approximately the same time, close to the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary, 65 Myr ago. Molecular evidence suggests a branching pattern of evolution that started much earlier. Resolving this discrepancy requires a consideration of the assumptions that underlie both approaches. It is argued here that the pattern indicated by the molecular approach is the most likely to be correct. If it is correct then either: 1) A diversity of placental mammals remains to be sampled from the Cretaceous, or 2) The placental orders diverged phylogenetically long before they diversified morphologically, implying a decoupling of the evolutionary processes associated with speciation and adaptation. The adaptive diversification of placental mammals may have required the demise of the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous, but it occurred in lineages that had a long prior history of independent existence.