ABSTRACT
Fossil age data and molecular sequences are increasingly combined to establish a timescale for the Tree of Life. Arthropods, as the most species-rich and morphologically disparate animal phylum, have received substantial attention, particularly with regard to questions such as the timing of habitat shifts (e.g., terrestrialisation), genome evolution (e.g., gene family duplication and functional evolution), origins of novel characters and behaviours (e.g., wings and flight, venom, silk), biogeography, rate of diversification (e.g., Cambrian explosion, insect coevolution with angiosperms, evolution of crab body plans), and the evolution of arthropod microbiomes. We present herein a series of rigorously vetted calibration fossils for arthropod evolutionary history, taking into account recently published guidelines for best practice in fossil calibration. These are restricted to Palaeozoic and Mesozoic fossils, no deeper than ordinal taxonomic level, nonetheless resulting in 79 fossil calibrations for 101 clades. This work is especially timely owing to the rapid growth of molecular sequence data and the fact that many included fossils have been described within the last five years. This contribution provides a resource for systematists and other biologists interested in deep-time questions in arthropod evolution.
- AMNH
- American Museum of Natural History
- AMS
- Australian Museum, Sydney
- AUGD
- University of Aberdeen
- BGR
- Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe, Berlin
- BMNH
- The Natural History Museum, London
- CNU
- Key Laboratory of Insect Evolutionary & Environmental Change, Capital Normal University, Beijing
- DE
- Ulster Museum, Belfast
- ED
- Ibaraki University, Mito, Japan
- FMNH
- Field Museum of Natural History
- GMCB
- Geological Museum of China, Beijing
- GSC
- Geological Survey of Canada
- IRNSB
- Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Brussels
- KSU
- Kent State University
- Ld
- Musée Fleury, Lodève, France
- LWL
- Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe-Museum für Naturkunde, Münster
- MACN
- Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales, Buenos Aires
- MB
- Humboldt Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin
- MBA
- Humboldt Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin
- MCNA
- Museo de Ciencias Naturales de Álava, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, Spain
- MCZ
- Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University
- MGSB
- Museo Geologico del Seminario de Barcelona
- MN
- Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro
- MNHN
- Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris
- NHMUK
- The Natural History Museum, London
- NIGP
- Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology
- NMS
- National Museum of Scotland
- OUM
- Oxford University Museum of Natural History
- PBM
- Palaöbotanik Münster
- PIN
- Paleontological Institute, Moscow
- PRI
- Paleontological Research Institution, Ithaca
- ROM
- Royal Ontario Museum
- SM
- Sedgwick Museum, University of Cambridge
- SMNK
- Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde, Karlsruhe
- SMNS
- Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde, Stuttgart
- TsGM
- F.N. Chernyshev Central Geologic Prospecting Research Museum, St. Petersburg
- UB
- University of Bonn
- USNM
- US National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
- UWGM
- University of Wisconsin Geology Museum
- YKLP
- Yunnan Key Laboratory for Palaeobiology, Yunnan University
- YPM
- Yale Peabody Museum
- ZPAL
- Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw