First appearance of mammals on the world stage and time when most modern mammalian species arose

Range first appearance ~160Ma: most modern species arose 1.8Ma - present million years ago (Ma)
Organism Mammals
Reference Ley RE et al., Evolution of mammals and their gut microbes. Science. 2008 Jun 20 320(5883):1647-51. doi: 10.1126/science.1155725. P.1647 middle column top paragraphPubMed ID18497261
Primary Source [3] A. M. Lister, The impact of Quaternary Ice Ages on mammalian evolution. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London Ser. B 359, 221 (2004). DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2003.1436PubMed ID15101579
Comments P.1647 left column bottom paragraph: "The acquisition of a new diet is a fundamental driver for the evolution of new species. Coevolution, the reciprocal adaptations occurring between interacting species (ref 2), produces physiological changes that are often recorded in fossil remains. For instance, although mammals made their first appearance on the world stage in the Jurassic [∼160 million years ago (Ma)], most modern species arose during the Quaternary [1.8 Ma to the present (primary source)], when C4 grasslands (dominated by plants that use for photosynthesis the Hatch-Slack cycle rather than the Calvin cycle typical of C3 plants) expanded in response to a fall in atmospheric CO2 levels and/or climate changes (refs 4–6)." See BNID 105155, 108645
Entered by Uri M
ID 112853