Some of the most fundamental questions in evolution remain unanswered, such as when and how extremely diverse groups of animals—for example reptiles—first evolved. For seventy-five years, adaptive radiations—the relatively fast evolution of many species from a single common ancestor—have been considered as the major cause of biological diversity, including the origins of major body plans (structural and developmental characteristics that identify a group of animals) and new lineages. However, past research examining these rapid rates of evolution was largely constrained by the methods used and the amount of data available.
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Source: Phys.org