Data from: Multiple morphological clocks and total-evidence tip-dating in mammals

Morphological integration predicts that correlated characters will co-evolve; thus, each distinct suite of correlated characters might be expected to evolve according to a separate clock or "pacemaker". Characters in a large morphological dataset for mammals were found to be evolving according to 7 separate clocks, each distinct from the molecular clock. Total-evidence tip dating using these multiple clocks inflated divergence time estimates, but potentially improved topological inference. In particular, single-clock analyses placed several meridiungulates and condylarths in a heterodox position as stem placentals, but multi-clock analyses retrieved a more plausible and orthodox position near ungulates within crown placentals. Several shortcomings (including uneven character sampling) currently impact upon the accuracy of total-evidence dating, but this study suggests that when sufficiently large and appropriately constructed phenotypic datasets become more commonplace, multi-clock approaches are feasible and can affect both divergence dates and phylogenetic relationships.