The Placental Mammal Ancestor and the Post–K-Pg Radiation of Placentals
2013/02/07 by Maureen A. O’Leary, Jonathan I. Bloch, John J. Flynn +20 · 14 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #Bat Biology and Ecology Studies #Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology
paper · doi:10.1126/science.1229237
openalex publication_date 2013/02/07 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
Abstract
To discover interordinal relationships of living and fossil placental mammals and the time of origin of placentals relative to the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary, we scored 4541 phenomic characters de novo for 86 fossil and living species. Combining these data with molecular sequences, we obtained a phylogenetic tree that, when calibrated with fossils, shows that crown clade Placentalia and placental orders originated after the K-Pg boundary. Many nodes discovered using molecular data are upheld, but phenomic signals overturn molecular signals to show Sundatheria (Dermoptera + Scandentia) as the sister taxon of Primates, a close link between Proboscidea (elephants) and Sirenia (sea cows), and the monophyly of echolocating Chiroptera (bats). Our tree suggests that Placentalia first split into Xenarthra and Epitheria; extinct New World species are the oldest members of Afrotheria.
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