Bloch, Jonathan I.

1 publication

O'Leary, Maureen A.; Bloch, Jonathan I.; + 21 other authors (detail)
2013The placental mammal ancestor and the post-K-Pg radiation of placentals.
Science 339: 662-667. 1 tab. 3 figs. + online supplementary material. https://science.sciencemag.org/content/339/6120/662 Feb. 8, 2013.
—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.