Modeling lineage and phenotypic diversification in the New World monkey (Platyrrhini, Primates) radiation

ARÍSTIDE, L.; ROSENBERGER, A.L.; TEJEDOR, M.F.; PÉREZ, S.I.

MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETICS AND EVOLUTION

ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE

Año: 2013

1055-7903

Adaptive radiations that have taken place in the distant past can now be more thoroughly studied with the availability of large molecular phylogenies and comparative data drawn from extant and fossil species. Platyrrhines are a good example of a major mammalian evolutionary radiation confined to a single continent, involving a relatively large temporal scale and documented by a relatively small but informative fossil record. Here, for the first time, we employ mathematical modeling to examine the processes of lineage origin, extinction and phenotypic diversification of the platyrrhine radiation, and quantitatively test current hypotheses about the contours of New World monkey history. Based on comparison between theoretical models and a time-calibrated phylogenetic tree and body mass and ecological information representing extant and extinct species, we find quantitative evidence of a distinct pattern, that an early pulse of lineage origination among crown platyrrhines was accompanied by partitioning of body mass niche space. The theme of crown platyrrhine diversification since the later early Miocene appears to be characterized by (i) an early great increase of the number of lineages within crown Platyrrhini; (ii) an early and impressive differentiation in body sizes and niches; and (iii), little subsequent change (i.e., stasis) in body size and niche preference within and among lineages since then. The long term size and ecological niche stability of the platyrrhines may be related to a combination of factors, including early niche-filling, stabilizing selection, the enduring isolation of the continent, and the rich resource of biotic diversity anthropoids first encountered in South America, which lacked a diversity of other arboreal competitors.