Diversification events and the effects of mass extinctions on Crocodyliformes evolutionary history

Autor(es)

Bronzati, Mario ^{[1, 2, 3]} ; Montefeltro, Felipe C. ^[4] ; Langer, Max C. ^[1]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Fac Filosofia Ciencias & Letras Ribeirao Preto, BR-14040901 Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[2] Univ Munich, Munich - Germany

^[3] Bayer Staatssammlung Palaontol & Geol, Richard Wagner Str 10, D-80333 Munich - Germany

^[4] Univ Estadual Paulista, Fac Engn Ilha Solteira, Dept Biol & Zootecnia, BR-15385000 Sao Paulo - Brazil

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE; v. 2, n. 5 MAY 2015.
• Citações Web of Science: 21

Resumo

The rich fossil record of Crocodyliformes shows a much greater diversity in the past than today in terms of morphological disparity and occupation of niches. We conducted topology-based analyses seeking diversification shifts along the evolutionary history of the group. Our results support previous studies, indicating an initial radiation of the group following the Triassic/Jurassic mass extinction, here assumed to be related to the diversification of terrestrial protosuchians, marine thalattosuchians and semi-aquatic lineages within Neosuchia. During the Cretaceous, notosuchians embodied a second diversification event in terrestrial habitats and eusuchian lineages started diversifying before the end of the Mesozoic. Our results also support previous arguments for a minor impact of the Cretaceous/Palaeogene mass extinction on the evolutionary history of the group. This argument is not only based on the information from the fossil record, which shows basal groups surviving the mass extinction and the decline of other Mesozoic lineages before the event, but also by the diversification event encompassing only the alligatoroids in the earliest period after the extinction. Our results also indicate that, instead of a continuous process through time, Crocodyliformes diversification was patchy, with events restricted to specific subgroups in particular environments and time intervals. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 08/57642-6 - Mesoeucrocodylia do cretaceo superior (formacao do vale do rio do peixe, grupo bauru) de campina verde-mg, descricao anatomica e posicionamento filogenetico.
• Beneficiário: Felipe Chinaglia Montefeltro
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Doutorado
• Processo FAPESP: 09/50146-6 - Estudo filogenetico dos "crocodyliformes nao-crocodylia" com a construcao de uma super-arvore pelo metodo de mrp
• Beneficiário: Mario Bronzati Filho
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Iniciação Científica
• Processo FAPESP: 13/11358-3 - A região ótica dos Crocodyliformes, implicações evolutivas e paleobiológicas
• Beneficiário: Felipe Chinaglia Montefeltro
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Pós-Doutorado
• Processo FAPESP: 10/04120-2 - Padrões morfológicos e pulsos de diversidade na evolução dos Crocodyliformes
• Beneficiário: Mario Bronzati Filho
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Mestrado