Taxic and morphological diversification during the early radiation of Clupeomorpha (Actinopterygii, Teleostei)

Evolutionary radiation is a problematic concept whose definition and classification have recently changed. Radiations can be defined as the pattern of abrupt increase in diversity of a lineage. It is relevant to evaluate the presence and interaction of different types of radiation in extant and fossil organisms to adequately delimitate the radiation types and to know the diversity in the context of Earth´s history. Here, we employed superorder Clupeomorpha in the Early-Late Cretaceous boundary as a study case to recognize the radiation types and their interactions, using both taxic and morphologic approaches. Clupeomorpha is a diverse and ancient teleostean superorder with a wide geographic and ecological distribution, that has been extensively studied. We proposed a model to calculate rates of origination to analyze the taxic diversification and employed geometric morphometrics to analyze the morphological diversification that occurred at the time boundary. The results suggest the abse...