The paper talks about the divergence of cephalopods. The limited fossil record makes it difficult to find divergence times and patterns. The researchers used molecular clocking to figure out where groups split off from one another. Molecular clocking measures genetic mutations over time in different groups to show measure how they evolve differently, and this data is subsequently compared to their fossil records. Cephalopods diverged during the Mesozoic Revolution, 160-100 millions of years ago. During this time there were not only dinosaurs above land, but there were also dramatic changes below the sea caused by competition. Many adaptations arose around this time in response to the competition. For example, cephalopods lost their shells. The researchers tracked when these adaptations came into existence in in addition to the rate of diversification.
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