▪ Abstract Molecular and paleontological data provide independent means of estimating
when groups of organisms evolved in the geological past, but neither approach can be …

Molecular clocks can be evaluated by comparing absolute rates of evolution and by
performing relative-rate tests. Typically, calculations of absolute rates are based on earliest …

Determining the relationships among and divergence times for the major eukaryotic
lineages remains one of the most important and controversial outstanding problems in …

The fossil record is well known to be incomplete. Read literally, it provides a distorted view of
the history of species divergence and extinction, because different species have different …

We reassess a study on a fossil-calibrated molecular clock that provides a new method for
evaluating the accuracy of calibration points. We address several pitfalls that molecular …

The use of DNA sequences to estimate the timing of evolutionary events is increasingly
popular, although it is fraught with practical difficulties. But the exponential growth of relevant …

In dating phylogenetic trees, it is important to work to the strengths of paleontology and
molecular phylogeny estimation. Minimum constraints on calibrations (ie, oldest fossils in a …

The role of fossils in dating the tree of life has been misunderstood. Fossils can provide
good “minimum” age estimates for branches in the tree, but “maximum” constraints on those …

Molecular dating of phylogenetic trees is a growing discipline using sequence data to co‐
estimate the timing of evolutionary events and rates of molecular evolution. All molecular …

The use of nucleotide and amino acid sequences allows improved understanding of the
timing of evolutionary events of life on earth. Molecular estimates of divergence times are …