RNA viruses are the most suitable object of study for rates of change and divergence times. This is due in large part to the rapid rate at which they evolve allowing genetic diversity to accumulate within a timescale approximately the same as mutations are fixed in viral populations [29] . Yet, a deeper understanding of the replication machinery of HPeV (e.g. generation times, fidelity of RNA polymerase) may deliver insights on the molecular basis of these high rates of evolutionary change [44] .