Fig. 4From: Total evidence phylogeny and evolutionary timescale for Australian faunivorous marsupials (Dasyuromorphia)Lineage through time (LTT) plots of modern dasyuromorphians compared with global temperature and thylacinid diversity. The diversity curves were plotted based on the post-burn-in trees from the “TipNodeCalib1” total evidence tip-and-node dating analysis (see Fig. 3 and text). The black line represents the median diversity curve for modern dasyuromorphians as a whole, with the grey shading representing the 95% confidence interval (based on the post-burn-in trees). The red line represents estimated global surface temperature (taken from Hansen et al. 2013). Arrow 1 indicates the middle Miocene Climatic Optimum (MMCO), arrow 2 the middle Miocene Climatic Transition (MMCT), and arrow 3 the major increase in grass pollen seen in the palynological record of Australia (see Martin and McMinn, 1994: Fig. 2). The upper bar graph represents thylacinid generic diversity through time based on named genera (note that Mutpuracinus was not included, based on our results – see Figs 1, 2, 3), with five temporal bins used: late Oligocene (28.1–23.03 MYA), early Miocene (23.03–15.97 MYA), middle Miocene (15.97–11.62 MYA), late Miocene (11.62–5.333 MYA), Pliocene (5.333–2.58 MYA) and Quaternary (2.58–0 MYA)Back to article page