Response to Comment on “The Placental Mammal Ancestor and the Post–K-Pg Radiation of Placentals”

Tree-building with diverse data maximizes explanatory power. Application of molecular clock models to ancient speciation events risks a bias against detection of fast radiations subsequent to the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) event. Contrary to Springer et al., post–K-Pg placental diversification does not require “virus-like” substitution rates. Even constraining clade ages to their model, the explosive model best explains placental evolution.

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