Gustavo S de Miranda, Siddharth S Kulkarni, Jéssica Tagliatela, Caitlin M Baker, Alessandro P L Giupponi, Facundo M Labarque, Efrat Gavish-Regev, Michael G Rix, Leonardo S Carvalho, Lívia Maria Fusari, Mark S Harvey, Hannah M Wood, Prashant P Sharma
Asymmetrical rates of cladogenesis and extinction abound in the Tree of Life, resulting in numerous minute clades that are dwarfed by larger sister groups. Such taxa are commonly regarded as phylogenetic relicts or "living fossils" when they exhibit an ancient first appearance in the fossil record and prolonged external morphological stasis, particularly in comparison to their more diversified sister groups. Due to their special status, various phylogenetic relicts tend to be well-studied and prioritized for conservation...
May 11, 2024: Systematic Biology