TY - JOUR AU - Ericson, Per GP AU - Klopfstein, Seraina AU - Irestedt, Martin AU - Nguyen, Jacqueline MT AU - Nylander, Johan AA PY - 2014 DA - 2014/01/15 TI - Dating the diversification of the major lineages of Passeriformes (Aves) JO - BMC Evolutionary Biology SP - 8 VL - 14 IS - 1 AB - The avian Order Passeriformes is an enormously species-rich group, which comprises almost 60% of all living bird species. This diverse order is believed to have originated before the break-up of Gondwana in the late Cretaceous. However, previous molecular dating studies have relied heavily on the geological split between New Zealand and Antarctica, assumed to have occurred 85–82 Mya, for calibrating the molecular clock and might thus be circular in their argument. SN - 1471-2148 UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-14-8 DO - 10.1186/1471-2148-14-8 ID - Ericson2014 ER -