Assessing the Cretaceous superordinal divergence times within birds and placental mammals by using whole mitochondrial protein sequences and an extended statistical framework.

Abstract excerpt

Using the set of all vertebrate mtDNA protein sequences published as of May 1998, plus unpublished examples for elephant and birds, we examined divergence times in Placentalia and Aves. Using a parsimony-based test, we identified a subset of slower evolutionary rate placental sequences that do not appear to violate the clock assumption. Analyzing just these sequences decreases support for Marsupionta and the...

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