The role of fossils in dating the tree of life has been misunderstood. Fossils can provide
good “minimum” age estimates for branches in the tree, but “maximum” constraints on those …

In an attempt to investigate differences between the most widely discussed hypotheses of
early tetrapod relationships, we assembled a new data matrix including 90 taxa coded for …

Turtles are among the smallest of vertebrate groups in terms of modern diversity, but they
are also among the most endangered. More than half, 51% to 56% of taxa are considered …

The early evolution of archosauromorphs during the Permo-Triassic constitutes an excellent
empirical case study to shed light on evolutionary radiations in deep time and the timing and …

Over the last 25 years, researchers, mostly paleontologists, have developed a system of
rank-free, phylogenetically defined names for the primary clades of turtles. As these names …

Dating the tree of life is a core endeavor in evolutionary biology. Rates of evolution are
fundamental to nearly every evolutionary model and process. Rates need dates. There is …

Vertebrate palaeontology is a lively field, with new discoveries reported every week... and
not only dinosaurs! This new edition reflects the international scope of vertebrate …

Amniotes include mammals, reptiles and birds, representing 75% of extant vertebrate
species on land. They originated around 318 million years ago in the early Late …

We present a rank-free phylogenetic nomenclature for 25 well-established ancient clades of
living turtles. This is the first attempt to document fully the nomenclatural history of a clade …

Abstract Fossil discoveries from South Africa have greatly expanded knowledge of the
development of life on Earth. In particular, the enormous palaeontological wealth of the …