Data from: Testing for ancient adaptive radiations in Neotropical cichlid fishes

Most contemporary studies of adaptive radiation focus on relatively recent
and geographically restricted clades. It is less clear whether
diversification of ancient clades spanning entire continents is consistent
with adaptive radiation. We used novel fossil calibrations to generate a
chronogram of Neotropical cichlid fishes and to test whether patterns of
lineage and morphological diversification are congruent with hypothesized
adaptive radiations in South and Central America. We found that
diversification in the Neotropical cichlid clade and the highly diverse
tribe Geophagini was consistent with diversity-dependent, early bursts of
divergence followed by decreased rates of lineage accumulation. South
American Geophagini underwent early rapid differentiation in body shape,
expanding into novel morphological space characterized by elongate-bodied
predators. Divergence in head-shape attributes associated with trophic
specialization evolved under strong adaptive constraints in all
Neotropical cichlid clades. The South American Cichlasomatini followed
patterns consistent with constant rates of morphological divergence.
Although morphological diversification in South American Heroini was
limited, Eocene invasion of Central American habitats was followed by
convergent diversification mirroring variation observed in Geophagini.
Diversification in Neotropical cichlids was influenced by the early
adaptive radiation of Geophagini, which potentially limited
differentiation in other cichlid clades.