Estimated time range of diversification of human and mouse

Range 61.7e+6 - 100.5e+6 years
Organism Mammals
Reference Donoghue PC, Benton MJ. Rocks and clocks: calibrating the Tree of Life using fossils and molecules. Trends Ecol Evol. 2007 Aug22(8):424-31. Graph - link PubMed ID17573149
Primary Source Database - link
Method Researchers take a conservative view and place a minimum constraint on the human-mouse split in the early Paleocene, at 61.7 Ma. The soft maximum constraint is based on the assumption that zalambdalestids (a group of small, long-legged jumping mammals known from excellent fossils from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia and central Asia) are close to Glires, which corresponds to 99.6 Ma ± 0.9 Myr – 96.2 Ma ± 0.9 Myr (i.e. 100.5 Ma). This soft maximum constraint is a long time before the minimum constraint.
Comments The human-mouse split is synonymous with the latest branching point between the mammalian orders Primates and Rodentia. Both orders are members of the clade Euarchontoglires. Euarchontoglires is composed of two clades, the Archonta and the Glires, and Primates belongs to the former, Rodentia to the latter. Thus, the human-mouse split becomes synonymous with the origin of Euarchontoglires. For full discussion and references see link
Entered by Uri M
ID 105152