Communications Biology (Oct 2021)

Widespread loss of mammalian lineage and dietary diversity in the early Oligocene of Afro-Arabia

  • Dorien de Vries,
  • Steven Heritage,
  • Matthew R. Borths,
  • Hesham M. Sallam,
  • Erik R. Seiffert

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-021-02707-9
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 4, no. 1
pp. 1 – 9

Abstract

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Using time-scaled phylogenies of several endemic clades of small Afro-Arabian mammals, Dorien de Vries et al. infer a steep drop in species numbers around the Eocene-Oligocene transition. This dramatic decline coincides with a global cooling trend as well as the onset of widespread flood basalt volcanism in East Africa, and is found to be correlated with a major loss in dietary diversity.