On the early origins of major biologic groups

Abstract

The commonly observed fact that the principal biologic groups appear early in an adaptive radiation is shown to be an artifact of the geometry of the evolutionary tree. For marine invertebrates of the Phanerozoic, total diversity and species turnover rates combine to make early origins of major groups inevitable. This is demonstrated through an analysis of the theoretical probability distribution of divergence time (time to most recent common ancestor) in comparison with observed distributions. Whereas the fact of early origins does not require ecological explanations, the interpretation of the morphologic distinctness of major groups when they first appear remains an ecological problem.