Peaks in dinosaur diversity

• Three ages are much more diverse than the others:

  • Kimmeridgian: GD = 11.18
  • Maastrichtian: GD = 7.83
  • Campanian: GD = 6.80

• No other age has a GD greater than 4.0 (Barremian)

• High diversity in late Cretaceous seems to contradict Dodson 1994's assertion than diversity was declining prior to K/T.

• This seeming contradiction is probably due to coarser time resolution in the current study.

Notes: