Skip Navigation



MBE Advance Access published online on March 13, 2006
Molecular Biology and Evolution, doi:10.1093/molbev/msj124
This Article
Right arrow Advance Access manuscript (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Supplementary Material
Right arrowOA All Versions of this Article:
23/6/1144    most recent
msj124v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Slack, K. E.
Right arrow Articles by Penny, D.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Slack, K. E.
Right arrow Articles by Penny, D.
GeoRef
Right arrow GeoRef Citation
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org. The online version of this article has been published under an open access model. Users are entitled to use, reproduce, disseminate, or display the open access version of this article for non-commercial purposes provided that: the original authorship is properly and fully attributed; the Journal and Oxford University Press are attributed as the original place of publication with the correct citation details given; if an article is subsequently reproduced or disseminated not in its entirety but only in part or as a derivative work this must be clearly indicated. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.
Accepted March 1, 2006

Research Article

Early Penguin Fossils, plus Mitochondrial Genomes, Calibrate Avian Evolution

Kerryn E. Slack 1 {diamondsuit}, Craig M. Jones 2 {diamondsuit}, Tatsuro Ando 3 {diamondsuit}, G. L. (Abby) Harrison 4, R. Ewan Fordyce 3, Ulfur Arnason 5, and David Penny 4 *

1 Allan Wilson Center for Molecular Ecology and Evolution Institute of Molecular BioSciences Massey University Palmerston North New Zealand; Division of Evolutionary Molecular Systematics Department of Cell and Organism Biology University of Lund Solvegatan 29 S-223 62 Lund Sweden
2 Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences Lower Hutt New Zealand
3 Department of Geology, University of Otago Dunedin New Zealand
4 Allan Wilson Center for Molecular Ecology and Evolution Institute of Molecular BioSciences Massey University Palmerston North New Zealand
5 Division of Evolutionary Molecular Systematics Department of Cell and Organism Biology University of Lund Solvegatan 29 S-223 62 Lund Sweden

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
David Penny, E-mail: d.penny{at}massey.ac.nz


  Abstract

Testing models of macroevolution, and especially the sufficiency of microevolutionary processes, requires good collaboration between molecular biologists and paleontologists. We report such a test for events around the Late Cretaceous by describing the earliest penguin fossils, analyzing complete mitochondrial genomes from an albatross, a petrel and a loon, and describe the gradual decline of pterosaur at the same time modern birds radiate. The penguin fossils comprise four naturally associated skeletons from the New Zealand Waipara Greensand, a Paleocene (early Tertiary) formation just above a well-known Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary site. The fossils, a new genus (Waimanu), provide a lower estimate of 61-62 Ma for the divergence between penguins and other birds and thus establish a reliable calibration point for avian evolution. Combining fossil calibration points, DNA sequences, maximum likelihood and Bayesian analysis, the penguin calibrations imply a radiation of modern (crown-group) birds in the Late Cretaceous. This includes a conservative estimate that modern sea and shorebird lineages diverged at least by the Late Cretaceous about 74 ± 3 Ma (Campanian). It is clear that modern birds from at least the latest Cretaceous lived at the same time as archaic birds including Hesperornis, Ichthyornis and the diverse Enantiornithiformes. Pterosaurs, which also coexisted with early crown-birds, show notable changes through the Late Cretaceous. There was a decrease in taxonomic diversity, and small- to medium-sized species disappeared well before the end of the Cretaceous. A simple reading of the fossil record might suggest competitive interactions with birds, but much more needs to be understood about pterosaur life histories. Additional fossils and molecular data are still required to help understand the role of biotic interactions in the evolution of Late Cretaceous birds and thus to test that the mechanisms of microevolution are sufficient to explain macroevolution.

*These authors contributed equally to this work.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Syst BiolHome page
M. J. Phillips, G. C. Gibb, E. A. Crimp, and D. Penny
Tinamous and Moa Flock Together: Mitochondrial Genome Sequence Analysis Reveals Independent Losses of Flight among Ratites
Syst Biol, November 13, 2009; (2009) syp079v1.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 PaleobiologyHome page
R. J. Butler, P. M. Barrett, S. Nowbath, and P. Upchurch
Estimating the effects of sampling biases on pterosaur diversity patterns: implications for hypotheses of bird/pterosaur competitive replacement
Paleobiology, September 1, 2009; 35(3): 432 - 446.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Syst BiolHome page
S. Y. W. Ho and M. J. Phillips
Accounting for Calibration Uncertainty in Phylogenetic Estimation of Evolutionary Divergence Times
Syst Biol, July 3, 2009; (2009) syp035v1.
[Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Mol Biol EvolHome page
R. C. Pratt, G. C. Gibb, M. Morgan-Richards, M. J. Phillips, M. D. Hendy, and D. Penny
Toward Resolving Deep Neoaves Phylogeny: Data, Signal Enhancement, and Priors
Mol. Biol. Evol., February 1, 2009; 26(2): 313 - 326.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Phil Trans R Soc BHome page
J. Goldberg, S. A Trewick, and A. M Paterson
Evolution of New Zealand's terrestrial fauna: a review of molecular evidence
Phil Trans R Soc B, October 27, 2008; 363(1508): 3319 - 3334.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Mol Biol EvolHome page
T. F. Wright, E. E. Schirtzinger, T. Matsumoto, J. R. Eberhard, G. R. Graves, J. J. Sanchez, S. Capelli, H. Muller, J. Scharpegge, G. K. Chambers, et al.
A Multilocus Molecular Phylogeny of the Parrots (Psittaciformes): Support for a Gondwanan Origin during the Cretaceous
Mol. Biol. Evol., October 1, 2008; 25(10): 2141 - 2156.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Syst BiolHome page
M. Hardman and L. M. Hardman
The Relative Importance of Body Size and Paleoclimatic Change as Explanatory Variables Influencing Lineage Diversification Rate: An Evolutionary Analysis of Bullhead Catfishes (Siluriformes: Ictaluridae)
Syst Biol, February 1, 2008; 57(1): 116 - 130.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Syst BiolHome page
A. F. Hugall, R. Foster, and M. S. Y. Lee
Calibration Choice, Rate Smoothing, and the Pattern of Tetrapod Diversification According to the Long Nuclear Gene RAG-1
Syst Biol, August 1, 2007; 56(4): 543 - 563.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Syst BiolHome page
S. L. Pereira, K. P. Johnson, D. H. Clayton, and A. J. Baker
Mitochondrial and Nuclear DNA Sequences Support a Cretaceous Origin of Columbiformes and a Dispersal-Driven Radiation in the Paleogene
Syst Biol, August 1, 2007; 56(4): 656 - 672.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USAHome page
J. A. Clarke, D. T. Ksepka, M. Stucchi, M. Urbina, N. Giannini, S. Bertelli, Y. Narvaez, and C. A. Boyd
Paleogene equatorial penguins challenge the proposed relationship between biogeography, diversity, and Cenozoic climate change
PNAS, July 10, 2007; 104(28): 11545 - 11550.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Biol LettHome page
J. W Brown, R. B Payne, and D. P Mindell
Nuclear DNA does not reconcile 'rocks' and 'clocks' in Neoaves: a comment on Ericson et al.
Biol Lett, June 22, 2007; 3(3): 257 - 260.
[Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Mol Biol EvolHome page
G. C. Gibb, O. Kardailsky, R. T. Kimball, E. L. Braun, and D. Penny
Mitochondrial Genomes and Avian Phylogeny: Complex Characters and Resolvability without Explosive Radiations
Mol. Biol. Evol., January 1, 2007; 24(1): 269 - 280.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Mol Biol EvolHome page
V. B. Kaiser, M. van Tuinen, and H. Ellegren
Insertion Events of CR1 Retrotransposable Elements Elucidate the Phylogenetic Branching Order in Galliform Birds
Mol. Biol. Evol., January 1, 2007; 24(1): 338 - 347.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Mol Biol EvolHome page
S. L. Pereira and A. J. Baker
A Mitogenomic Timescale for Birds Detects Variable Phylogenetic Rates of Molecular Evolution and Refutes the Standard Molecular Clock
Mol. Biol. Evol., September 1, 2006; 23(9): 1731 - 1740.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.