Rates of fish evolution during the breakup of Pangaea
01 JANVIER 2008 00:00
| Durée 13:42 | Vues 740
The rise of halecomorph and teleost fishes was co-incident with the breakup of Pangaea. During this time continents and seas became increasingly provincialised and the fishes responded, marine and freshwater alike. There were discernable and consistent patterns in the rates of morphological evolution of different fish groups, most of which showed intial bursts contemporaneous with the major continental reorganisations followed by decline in successive time bands. However, the nature of the changes was very different for different groups.