The evolution of body size, Cope's rule and the origin of amniotes

Systematic Biology
Michel Laurin

Abstract

The evolution of body size in tetrapods is assessed using a database that includes 107 early stegocephalian species ranging in time from the Frasnian (Upper Devonian) to the Tatarian (Upper Permian). All analyses use methods that incorporate phylogenetic information (topology and branch lengths). In all tests, the impact of alternative topologies and branch lengths are assessed. Previous reports that raised doubts about the accuracy of squared-change parsimony assessment of ancestral character value appear to have used datasets in which there was no phylogenetic signal. Hence, squared-change parsimony may be more reliable than suggested in recent studies, at least when a phylogenetic signal is present in the datasets of interest. Analysis using random taxon reshuffling on three reference phylogenies shows that cranial and presacral length include a strong phylogenetic signal. Character optimization of body size in stegocephalians using squared-change parsimony on a time-calibrated phylogeny incorporating branch length information is used to test a previously published scenario on the origin of amniotes and of the amniotic egg that implies that the ancestors of amniotes were small (no more than 10 cm in snout-vent length), and t...Continue Reading

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Sep 9, 2010·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Vera Weisbecker, Anjali Goswami
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