Testing the Darwinian legacy of the Cambrian radiation using Trilobite phylogeny and biogeography

From: Journal of Paleontology | Date: March 1, 1999| Author: | Copyright information

ABSTRACT-Since the publication of Darwin (1859), the biological meaning of the Cambrian radiation has been debated. Most commentators agree, however, that the Cambrian radiation is fundamentally a time of major metazoan cladogenesis. In and of itself this does not necessarily mean that unique evolutionary processes operated during the Cambrian radiation. Phylogenetic analysis has been used to study the tempo of speciation during the radiation, and thus far there is no need to invoke special rules relating to the tempo of evolution. Instead, what seems unique about the Cambrian radiation is ...

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