Paleobiogeography, paleoecology, diversity, and speciation patterns in the Eublastoidea (Blastozoa: Echinodermata)

Understanding the distribution of taxa in space and time is key to understanding diversity dynamics. The fossil record provides an avenue to assess these patterns on vast timescales and through major global changes. The Eublastoidea were a conservatively plated Paleozoic echinoderm clade that range from the middle Silurian to the end Permian. The geographic distribution of the eublastoids, as a whole, has been qualitatively assessed but has historically lacked a quantitative analysis. This is the first examination of the Eublastoidea using probabilistic methods within the R package BioGeoBEARS to assess macroevolutionary trends. Results provide an updated understanding of eublastoid diversity with new peaks and troughs in diversity through their evolutionary history. Lithology is examined in an evolutionary framework and does not have clear evolutionary trends and there is much work to be done regarding environmental preferences. Biogeographic patterns do not recover precise group origi...