FOSSIL CALIBRATIONS FOR THE ARTHROPOD TREE OF LIFE

Abstract

ABSTRACTFossil age data and molecular sequences are increasingly combined to establish a timescale for the Tree of Life. Arthropods, as the most species-rich and morphologically disparate animal phylum, have received substantial attention, particularly with regard to questions such as the timing of habitat shifts (e.g. terrestrialisation), genome evolution (e.g. gene family duplication and functional evolution), origins of novel characters and behaviours (e.g. wings and flight, venom, silk), biogeography, rate of diversification (e.g. Cambrian explosion, insect coevolution with angiosperms, evolution of crab body plans), and the evolution of arthropod microbiomes. We present herein a series of rigorously vetted calibration fossils for arthropod evolutionary history, taking into account recently published guidelines for best practice in fossil calibration. These are restricted to Palaeozoic and Mesozoic fossils, no deeper than ordinal taxonomic level, nonetheless resulting in 80 fossil calibrations for 102 clades. This work is especially timely owing to the rapid growth of molecular sequence data and the fact that many included fossils have been described within the last five years. This contribution provides a resource for systematists and other biologists interested in deep-time questions in arthropod evolution.ABBREVIATIONSAMNHAmerican Museum of Natural HistoryAMSAustralian Museum, SydneyAUGDUniversity of AberdeenBGRBundesanstalt fur Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe, BerlinBMNHThe Natural History Museum, LondonCNUKey Laboratory of Insect Evolutionary & Environmental Change, Capital Normal University, BeijingDEUlster Museum, BelfastEDIbaraki University, Mito, JapanFMNHField Museum of Natural HistoryGMCBGeological Museum of China, BeijingGSCGeological Survey of CanadaIRNSBInstitut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, BrusselsKSUKent State UniversityLdMusee Fleury, Lodeve, FranceLWLLandschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe-Museum fur Naturkunde, MunsterMACNMuseo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales, Buenos AiresMBAMuseum fur Naturkunde, BerlinMCNAMuseo de Ciencias Naturales de Alava, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Alava, SpainMCZMuseum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard UniversityMGSBMuseo Geologico del Seminario de BarcelonaMNMuseu Nacional, Rio de JaneiroMNHNMuseum national d'Histoire naturelle, ParisNHMUKThe Natural History Museum, LondonNIGPNanjing Institute of Geology and PalaeontologyNMSNational Museum of ScotlandOUMOxford University Museum of Natural HistoryPBMPalaobotanik MunsterPINPaleontological Institute, MoscowPRIPaleontological Research Institution, IthacaROMRoyal Ontario MuseumSAMSouth Australian Museum, AdelaideSMSedgwick Museum, University of CambridgeSMNKStaatliches Museum fur Naturkunde, KarlsruheSMNSStaatliches Museum fur Naturkunde, StuttgartTsGMF.N. Chernyshev Central Geologic Prospecting Research Museum, St. PetersburgUBUniversity of BonnUSNMUS National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian InstitutionUWGMUniversity of Wisconsin Geology MuseumYKLPYunnan Key Laboratory for Palaeobiology, Yunnan UniversityYPMYale Peabody MuseumZPALInstitute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw.