Fig. 5: Emergence of modern planktonic foraminifera.

The emergence of the modern clades of planktonic foraminifera in relation to the evolution of their diversity through the Mesozoic and Cenozoic following the classical hypothesis based on fossil record data and our alternative hypothesis based on molecular data. The gray curve represents the number of planktonic species observed in the fossil record (from ref. 8). The time of divergence between the extant clades and their nearest benthic relative in the maximum likelihood molecular phylogeny is represented by a star. It represents the earliest possible date of transition into the plankton. Dashed lines represent the uncertainty of the time of divergence. Time range of evolutionary events in the Mesozoic are provided above the graph. The molecular clocked phylogenies are provided as Supplementary Data 5.