Trinajstic et al. (2007) reported exceptionally preserved soft tissues in two placoderm fish from the Devonian of Australia. This exciting finding presents fresh morphological data with a bearing on an old phylogenetic problem: deep branching structure within the vertebrate tree. Trinajstic et al. (2007) show that axial muscle blocks in the placoderm Austroptyctodus more closely resemble those ...

A cladistic analysis was carried out to identify haplotypes hypothesized to differ for functional DNA sequence variations within the apolipoprotein (apo) AI-CIII-AIV gene cluster that affect plasma lipid, lipoprotein and apolipoprotein levels. A sample of unrelated healthy French Canadians was studied. First, a cladogram of the observed apo AI-CIII-AIV haplotypes was estimated. Then this cladog...

The notion that two characters evolve independently is of interest for two reasons. First, theories of biological integration often predict that change in one character requires complementary change in another. Second, character independence is a basic assumption of most phylogenetic inference methods, and dependent characters might confound attempts at phylogenetic inference. Previously propos...

The Neotropical lycaenid hairstreak genus Thepytus Robbins and its eight species are revised. Species treatments summarize nomenclature, distribution, habitat, behavior, and diagnostic traits, as well as noting why each species is considered distinct under a biological species concept. An identifi cation key for males and a checklist are included. Beatheclus Bálint & Dahners new synonym is syno...

Drosophilidae (Diptera) is a diverse, cosmopolitan family of flies. Here, we present a combined analysis phylogeny of Drosophilinae, one of the two subfamilies of Drosophilidae, based on data from six different data partitions, including both molecular and morphological characters. Although our data show support for the monophyly of the Hawaiian Drosophilidae, and the subgenus Sophophora, neith...

In vicariance biogeography, widespread or sympatric taxa can be dealt with under assumptions 0, 1 and 2. Data from cladogenetic relationships among taxa of a monophyletic group and their distribution over areas are assumed, in the order 0 → 1 → 2, to represent decreasing information about vicariance events. A less strict assumption carries a larger solution set, i.e. the number of possible area...

We study properties of weight extraction methods for pairwise comparison matrices that minimize suitable measures of inconsistency, ‘average error gravity’measures, including one that leads to the geometric row means. The measures share essential global properties with the AHP inconsistency measure. By embedding the geometric mean in a larger class of methods we shed light on the choice between...

Two female specimens of the Neotropical genus Ophionthus Bernhauer were found during museum collection surveys, representing different species genus. These are serpentinus Bernhauer, 1908 and O. asenjoi sp. nov. The was monotypic until present study only known from a single male specimen Central Peru. is redescribed with inclusion characters both type new here proposed. Additionally, systematic...

falsify a molecular phylogeny based on evidence from geographic or morphological evidence. However, a phylogeny reconstructing extinct relationships, which usually did not preserve molecular evidence, is difficult to falsify. When studying paleontology, constructing phylogenetic hypotheses is important, yet we are always struggling in debates over which phylogenetic cladogram is closest to the ...