Data from: Heterogeneous rates of molecular evolution and diversification could explain the Triassic age estimate for angiosperms

Dating analyses based on molecular data imply that crown angiosperms
existed in the Triassic, long before their undisputed appearance in the
fossil record in the Early Cretaceous. Following a re-analysis of the age
of angiosperms using updated sequences and fossil calibrations, we use a
series of simulations to explore the possibility that the older age
estimates are a consequence of (i) major shifts in the rate of sequence
evolution near the base of the angiosperms and/or (ii) the representative
taxon sampling strategy employed in such studies. We show that both of
these factors do tend to yield substantially older age estimates. These
analyses do not prove that younger age estimates based on the fossil
record are correct, but they do suggest caution in accepting the older age
estimates obtained using current relaxed-clock methods. Although we have
focused here on the angiosperms, we suspect that these results will shed
light on dating discrepancies in other major clades.