TUDGE, COLIN (2000) The Variety of Life: A Survey and a Celebration of all the Creatures that Have Ever Lived. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
WEINER. JONATHAN (1994) The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time. Jonathan Cape, London.
WILSON, E. O. (1992) The Diversity of Life. Harvard University Press. Cambridge. Mass.
Advanced Reading
BRUSCA, RICHARD C. & BRUSCA, GARY J. (2002) Invertebrates. 2nd Edn. Sinauer Associates Inc. Sunderland, Mass.
CARROLL, ROBERT L. (1988) Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution. W. H. Freeman, New York.
MACDONALD, DAVID (2001) The New Encyclopedia of Mammals. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
RIDLEY, MARK (2004) Evolution. 3rd Edn. Blackwell. Oxford.
NOTES TO THE PHYLOGENIES
YAN WONG
Phylogeny Diagrams
The following notes outline the scientific basis for the phylogenies in this book, particularly in areas of major recent taxonomic revision and current debate. A good, relatively recent phylogenetic survey is given in Colin Tudge's The Variety of Life .
RENDEZVOUS 0 The Americas are omitted because evidence points to humans having arrived there recently from Asia. Concestor 0 must logically be at least as recent as any gene MRCA (such as Y-chromosome ‘Adam’), and even low levels of interbreeding are enough to result in a very recent MRCA of all humans , hence the recent date used here.
RENDEZVOUS 1 - 2 Phylogeny (as for the rest of the trees, the majority ‘vote’ among genes — see the Gibbon's Tale) supported by morphology and molecules . Divergence dates based on the molecular clock .
RENDEZVOUS 3 Phylogeny and divergence dates based on morphological, fossil, and molecular data .
RENDEZVOUS 4 Gibbon phylogeny is unsure: this tree is based upon mtDNA data . supplemented by molecular clock dates for the Concestor and Symphalangus/Hylobates nodes .
RENDEZVOUS 5 Conventional phylogeny. Divergence dates given by molecular and fossil data .
RENDEZVOUS 6 Phylogeny and dates taken directly or inferred from . The position of the Aotinae is not very secure, and may change in the future.
RENDEZVOUS 7 Placement and dating of the tarsier family agrees with molecular and morphological data.
RENDEZVOUS 8 Within strepsirhines, lemur interrelationships are disputed, although the aye-aye is often considered basal. Order and dating of the four other families is from molecules , scaled to place basal primate divergence at 63 Mya . However, other calculations place this divergence at 80 Mya , moving Rendezvous 9, 10 and 11 backwards by up to 15 million years.
RENDEZVOUS 9 Placement of colugos and tree shrews is highly controversial (see accompanying tale), and is here based on recent molecular data . Basal date then constrained by surrounding nodes to 63-75 Mya.
RENDEZVOUS 10 Placement of Glires from robust molecular evidence . Rendezvous date constrained by molecular clock dating of Rendezvous 11 , but maybe up to 10 My earlier . Lagomorph placement uncontroversial . Rodent phylogeny debated. Hystricognath rodents (Hystricidae. Phiomorpha, Caviomorpha) generally accepted. Otherwise, 4 groups often found in molecular studies : Muridae+Dipodidae, Aplodontidae+Sciuridae+Gliridae, Ctenodactylidae+hystricognaths, Heteromyidae+Geomyidae. Branching order and rough dating of these groups from mtDNA and rDNA 1202], but order is not robust .
RENDEZVOUS 11 - 12 Phylogeny and dating from recent revolutionary molecular studies .
RENDEZVOUS 13 Phylogeny and dating from molecular data . Morphology agree on elephant/sirenian/hyrax split. However, there is uncertainty in the placement of the aardvark , and morphological data may still conflict with the position of the Afrosoricida .
RENDEZVOUS 14 Rendezvous supported by old and recent data . Placental-marsupial divergence at 140 Mya consistent with fossils and late molecular dates . Molecular studies find didelphids, then paucituberculates as sister to other marsupials , consistent with morphology , Other branches variably supported by molecular data : position of monito del monte particularly uncertain, here interpreted as sister to Diprotodontia . Divergence dates based on molecular clock data, but also constrained by Gondwanan biogeography .
RENDEZVOUS 15 Phylogeny and dating from recent molecular, morphological, and fossil data .
RENDEZVOUS 16 Date estimates for Rendezvous 16 average around 310 Mya , other early branch dates from fossil data . Now-conventional branching within snakes and lizards . Bird branching order from genetic studies with dates from DNA hybridization : many orders grouped as Neoaves due to uncertain relationships.
RENDEZVOUS 17 Although disputed by some palaeontologists , molecular and morphological data strongly support lissamphibian monophyly, and hint at order of branching shown here . Basal date from palaeontological evidence , others from maximum likelihood trees of mtDNA .
RENDEZVOUS 18 - 19 Phylogeny and dating from molecular and morphological/palaeontological studies.
