I, too, would be interested in following a critical discussion of times
of divergence. Here are some standard references which may provide a
starting point:
M. Nei ("Molecular Evolutionary Genetics", Columbia University Press,
1987) gives values for times of divergence derived largely from those cited
by McLaughlin and Dayhoff (in M.O. Dayhoff, ed., Atlas of Protein Sequence
and Structure, vol. 5, pp.47-66, Natl. Biomed. Res. Found., Silver Springs,
MD, 1972), and illustrated in his Figure 2.2. The commonly quoted value of
80 Mya for the mammalian (eutherian) radiation can be roughly estimated
from this figure.
The times of divergence shown by Nei are very similar to those cited
by R.E.Dickerson (The structure of cytochrome C and the rates of molecular
evolution, J. Mol. Evol. 1:26-45, 1971) who, in turn, cites J.Z. Young (The
life of vertebrates, 2nd Ed., Oxford Univ. Press, 1962) and two books of
A.S. Romer (The vertebrate body, 3rd Ed., Saunders, Phila. PA, 1962; The
vertebrate story, Univ. Chicago Press, Chicago IL, 1962). I don't know how
much information these 1962 references have on subdivisions of fish.
Cheers,
George
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