Data from: Post-Cretaceous bursts of evolution along the benthic-pelagic axis in marine fishes
Data files
Nov 21, 2018 version files 250.98 KB
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Calculate_Ancestral_States.R
27.38 KB
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Carangaria-MCC.tre
111.43 KB
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ChangesTT.R
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Harrington45.tre
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MVMORPH.R
1.44 KB
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Rabosky1057.tre
50.29 KB
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Rabosky415.tre
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Rabosky508.tre
23.38 KB
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TESS-CoMET.R
2.56 KB
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TESS-Model-Fit.R
11.94 KB
Abstract
Ecological opportunity arising in the aftermath of mass extinction events is thought to be a powerful driver of evolutionary radiations. Here, we assessed how the wake of the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction shaped diversification dynamics in a clade of mostly marine fishes (Carangaria), which comprises a disparate array of benthic and pelagic dwellers including some of the most astonishing fish forms (e.g., flatfishes, billfishes, remoras, archerfishes). Analyses of lineage diversification show time-heterogeneous rates of lineage diversification in carangarians, with highest rates reached during the Paleocene. Likewise, a remarkable proportion of Carangaria’s morphological variation originated early in the history of the group and in tandem with a marked incidence of habitat shifts. Taken together, these results suggest that all major lineages and body plans in Carangaria originated in an early burst shortly after the K-Pg mass extinction, which ultimately allowed the occupation of newly released niches along the benthic-pelagic habitat axis.