Research team claims fossil-only study of placental mammalian evolution time frame is wrong
Wednesday, January 15, 2014 - 11:01
in Paleontology & Archaeology
(Phys.org) —A team of researchers from the U.K. (led by Mario dos Reis) is directly challenging the results of a study conducted by another team (led by Maureen O'Leary) that concluded last year that placental mammals came to exist after the demise of the dinosaurs, not before. dos Reis et al maintain that their study using what's known as the molecular clock, proves that placental mammals came before the demise of the dinosaurs. They have published a paper in the journal Biology Letters describing how they came to their conclusions and why the other team is wrong.