1. Lehrstuhl für Tierzucht, Technical University of Munich, 85354 Freising-Weihenstephan, Germany
2. Division of Biology, and,
3. NERC Centre for Population Biology, Imperial College, Silwood Park campus, Ascot SL5 7PY, UK
4. Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regents Park, London NW1 4RY, UK
5. Division of Vertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York 10024, USA
6. School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia
7. Jodrell Laboratory, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AB, UK
8. National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent), Durham, North Carolina 27705, USA
9. Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada
10. Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602, USA
11. Present addresses: Institut für Spezielle Zoologie und Evolutionsbiologie mit Phyletischem Museum, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, 07743 Jena, Germany (O.R.P.B.-E.); Centre for Macroevolution and Macroecology, School of Botany and Zoology, Australian National University, Canberra 0200, Australia (M.C.).

Correspondence to: Olaf R. P. Bininda-Emonds^1,11 Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to O.R.P.B.-E. (Email: olaf.bininda@uni-jena.de).

Abstract

Did the end-Cretaceous mass extinction event, by eliminating non-avian dinosaurs and most of the existing fauna, trigger the evolutionary radiation of present-day mammals? Here we construct, date and analyse a species-level phylogeny of nearly all extant Mammalia to bring a new perspective to this question. Our analyses of how extant lineages accumulated through time show that net per-lineage diversification rates barely changed across the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary. Instead, these rates spiked significantly with the origins of the currently recognized placental superorders and orders approximately 93 million years ago, before falling and remaining low until accelerating again throughout the Eocene and Oligocene epochs. Our results show that the phylogenetic 'fuses' leading to the explosion of extant placental orders are not only very much longer than suspected previously, but also challenge the hypothesis that the end-Cretaceous mass extinction event had a major, direct influence on the diversification of today's mammals.

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