Twenty-five well-justified fossil calibrations for primate divergences

Abstract

Phylogenies with estimates of divergence times are essential for investigating many evolutionary questions. In principle, “tip-dating” is arguably the most appropriate approach, with fossil and extant taxa analysed together in a single analysis, and topology and divergence times estimated simultaneously. However, “node-dating” (as used in many molecular clock analyses), in which fossil evidence is used to calibrate the age of particular nodes a priori, will probably remain the dominant approach, due to various issues with analysing morphological and molecular data together. Here, we provide a list of 25 well-justified node calibrations for primate divergences, following best practices: 16 within Haplorhini, four within Strepsirrhini, one for crown Primates, and four for older divergences within Euarchontoglires. In each case, we provide a hard minimum bound, and for 22 of these we also provide a soft maximum bound and a suggested prior distribution. For each calibrated node, we provide the age of the oldest fossil of each daughter lineage that descends from it, which allows use of the “CladeAge” method for specifying priors on node ages. Dorien de Vries. Ecosystems and Environment Research Centre, School of Science, Engineering and Environment, University of Salford, Manchester, UK. (Corresponding author) d.devries@salford.ac.uk @PaleoDorien Robin M.D. Beck. Ecosystems and Environment Research Centre, School of Science, Engineering and Environment, University of Salford, Manchester, UK. r.m.d.beck@salford.ac.uk @robinmdbeck