Dead clades walking are a pervasive macroevolutionary pattern

"Dead clade walking" refers to fossil groups that suffer major drops in their biodiversity at a mass extinction but do not completely disappear from the fossil record. Why these groups were able to survive but not rediversify remains a relative mystery. Controls on the timing of their eventual extinction are additionally unclear. By gauging the frequency and cause of dead clades walking, we may be able to better understand how mass extinction events have shaped the evolution of animal lineages over Earth history.