This function uses ML to place a fossil lineage into a tree using continuous traits.
locate.fossil(tree, X, ...)an object of class "phylo".
a matrix with continuous character data.
optional arguments including time.constraint which can be a scalar (positive height above the root of the fossil or negative time before present) or a vector (age range of fossil, either positive or negative); edge.constraint, which is equivalent to constraint in locate.yeti; plot, rotate, and quiet, which have the same interpretation (and defaults) as the equivalent arguments in locate.yeti.
Optimized tree as an object of class "phylo".
Felsenstein, J. (1981) Maximum likelihood estimation of evolutionary trees from continuous characters. American Journal of Human Genetics, 25, 471-492.
Felsenstein, J. (2002) Quantitative characters, phylogenies, and morphometrics. In: MacLeod, N. and P. Forey (Eds.) Morphology, Shape and Phylogeny (pp. 27-44). Taylor and Francis, London.
Revell, L. J. (2012) phytools: An R package for phylogenetic comparative biology (and other things). Methods Ecol. Evol., 3, 217-223.
Revell, L. J., D. L. Mahler, R. G. Reynolds, and G. J. Slater. (2015) Placing cryptic, recently extinct, or hypothesized taxa into an ultrametric phylogeny using continuous, character data: A case study with the lizard Anolis roosevelti. Evolution, 69, 1027-1035.