• DOI:10.1093/MOLBEV/MSL150
Corpus ID: 14932029

Paleontological evidence to date the tree of life.

@article{Benton2007PaleontologicalET,
  title={Paleontological evidence to date the tree of life.},
  author={M. Benton and Philip C. J. Donoghue},
  journal={Molecular biology and evolution},
  year={2007},
  volume={24 1},
  pages={
          26-53
        }
}

M. Benton, Philip C. J. Donoghue

Published 2007

Biology, Medicine

Molecular biology and evolution

The role of fossils in dating the tree of life has been misunderstood. Fossils can provide good "minimum" age estimates for branches in the tree, but "maximum" constraints on those ages are poorer. Current debates about which are the "best" fossil dates for calibration move to consideration of the most appropriate constraints on the ages of tree nodes. Because fossil-based dates are constraints, and because molecular evolution is not perfectly clock-like, analysts should use more rather than… CONTINUE READING

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