Decoupled ecomorphological evolution and diversification in Neogene-Quaternary horses.
Evolutionary theory has long proposed a connection between trait evolution and diversification rates. In this work, we used phylogenetic methods to evaluate the relationship of lineage-specific speciation rates and the mode of evolution of body size and tooth morphology in the Neogene and Quaternary radiation of horses (7 living and 131 extinct species). We show that diversification pulses are a recurrent feature of equid evolution but that these pulses are not correlated with rapid bursts in phenotypic evolution. Instead, rapid cladogenesis seems repeatedly associated with extrinsic factors that relaxed diversity bounds, such as increasing productivity and geographic dispersals into the Old World. This evidence suggests that diversity dynamics in Equinae were controlled mainly by ecological limits under diversity dependence rather than rapid ecomorphological differentiation.
Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions und Biodiversitätsforschung, Invalidenstraße 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany. jlopezcant@gmail.com.|Departamento de Paleobiología, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain.
J L
0000-0003-0913-7735
JL
Cantalapiedra
Instituto de Investigaciones Arqueológicas y Paleontológicas del Cuaternario Pampeano (INCUAPA), National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (UNICEN), Del Valle 5737, B7400JWI Olavarría, Argentina.
J L
0000-0003-0579-8747
JL
Prado
Departamento de Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), José Antonio Novais 2, 28040 Madrid, Spain.|Departamento de Cambio Medioambiental, Instituto de Geociencias, UCM, CSIC, José Antonio Novais 2, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
M
0000-0001-5640-9647
M
Hernández Fernández
Departamento de Paleobiología, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain.
M T
MT
Alberdi
D000818:Animals; D049628:Body Size; D049810:Genetic Speciation; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006736:Horses / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000235:genetics*; D010641:Phenotype; D014070:Tooth / Q000033:anatomy & histology