Data from: Phanerozoic survivors: actinopterygian evolution through the Permo-Triassic and Triassic-Jurassic mass extinction events

Actinopterygians (ray-finned fishes) successfully passed through four of the big five mass extinction events of the Phanerozoic, but the effects of these crises on the group are poorly understood. Many researchers have assumed that the Permo-Triassic mass extinction (PTME) and end-Triassic extinction (ETE) had little impact on actinopterygians, despite devastating many other groups. Here, two morphometric techniques, geometric (body shape) and functional (jaw morphology), are used to assess the effects of these two extinction events on the group. The PTME elicits no significant shifts in functional disparity while body shape disparity increases. An expansion of body shape and functional disparity coincides with the neopterygian radiation and evolution of novel feeding adaptations in the Middle-Late Triassic. Through the ETE, small decreases are seen in shape and functional disparity, but are unlikely to represent major changes brought about by the extinction event. In the Early Jurassic, further expansions into novel areas of ecospace indicative of durophagy occur, potentially linked to losses in the ETE. As no evidence is found for major perturbations in actinopterygian evolution through either extinction event, the group appears to have been immune to two major environmental crises that were disastrous to most other organisms.辐鳍鱼类（Actinopterygians，即辐鳍鱼）成功渡过了显生宙（Phanerozoic）五大生物大灭绝事件中的四次，但学界对这些灭绝危机对该类群的影响仍知之甚少。此前多数研究者假定，尽管二叠纪-三叠纪大灭绝事件（Permo-Triassic mass extinction, PTME）与三叠纪末期灭绝事件（end-Triassic extinction, ETE）重创了诸多其他生物类群，但它们对辐鳍鱼类几乎未产生影响。本研究采用两种形态测量技术——几何形态测量（体型）与功能形态测量（颌骨形态），评估这两次灭绝事件对该类群的影响。结果显示，PTME未引发功能差异度的显著变化，但体型差异度有所提升。体型与功能差异度的扩张，与中晚三叠世新鳍鱼类的辐射演化以及新型摄食适应性的演化相吻合。在ETE期间，体型与功能差异度出现小幅下降，但这并不代表灭绝事件带来了实质性重大改变。早侏罗世时期，辐鳍鱼类进一步扩张至食壳性所对应的新型生态空间中，这一现象或与ETE导致的类群损失存在关联。本研究未发现两次灭绝事件对辐鳍鱼类演化造成重大扰动的证据，表明该类群对这两场给绝大多数其他生物带来灾难性后果的环境危机具备免疫力。