title: Comment on "Whole-genome analyses resolve early branches in the tree of life of modern birds".
abstract: Jarvis et al. (Research Articles, 12 December 2014, p. 1320) presented molecular clock analyses that suggested that most modern bird orders diverged just after the mass extinction event at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary (about 66 million years ago). We demonstrate that this conclusion results from the use of a single inappropriate maximum bound, which effectively precludes the Cretaceous diversification overwhelmingly supported by previous molecular studies.
authors.affiliation: Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Australia. kieren.mitchell@adelaide.edu.au.
authors.forename: Kieren J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.affiliation: Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Australia.
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.affiliation: School of Earth, Environmental, and Biological Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.
authors.forename: Matthew J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Phillips
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds / Q000235:genetics*; D016678:Genome; D010802:Phylogeny