Cope's Rule and the Dynamics of Body Mass Evolution in North American Fossil Mammals
Abstract
Body mass estimates for 1534 North American fossil mammal species show that new species are on average 9.1% larger than older species in the same genera. This within-lineage effect is not a sampling bias. It persists throughout the Cenozoic, accounting for the gradual overall increase in average mass (Cope's rule). The effect is stronger for larger mammals, being near zero for small mammals. This variation partially explains the unwavering lower size limit and the gradually expanding mid-sized gap, but not the sudden large increase in the upper size limit, at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary.
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I thank A. DeQuieroz, W. DiMichele, C. Marshall, D. Raup, P. Wagner, P. Wilf, and the anonymous reviewers for comments on the paper. This work was supported by the Evolution of Terrestrial Ecosystems (ETE) program and the Smithsonian Institution.
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Science
Volume 280 | Issue 5364
1 May 1998
1 May 1998
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Received: 18 December 1997
Accepted: 6 March 1998
Published in print: 1 May 1998
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