Given the increasing size of modern genetic data sets and, in particular, the move towards genome-wide studies, there is merit in considering analyses that gain computational efficiency by being more heuristic in nature. With this in mind, we present results of cladistic analyses methods on the Genetic Analysis Workshop 15 Problem 3 simulated data (answers known). Our analysis attempts to captu...

The grass family (Poaceae) has been recognized as a unique lineage for more than 200 years, based initially on characters of inflorescence and spikelet morphology and corroborated by anatomical and other features in the latter half of the twentieth century. There have been a number of attempts to derive a phylogeny of sections of the family from structural (morphological and anatomical) charact...

Based on a cladistic biogeographic analysis of 6 species-level phylogenies of harvestman taxa, we searched for congruence in the historical relationships of 12 areas of endemism of the Brazilian Atlantic Rain Forest. We constructed general area cladograms using Primary Brooks Parsimony Analysis (BPA), BPA of nodes, and paralogy-free subtree analysis. These analyses resulted in 6 general area cl...

Phylogenetic reconstructions are still lacking for many molluscan groups, making evolutionary inferences much weaker. The genera Cotonopsis Olsson, 1942 and Cosmioconcha Dall, 1913 are part of the so called Strombina group, and as such have been used as models to study patterns of speciation and extinction brought about by the rise of the Central American gateway. Earlier work, based on a few s...

A cladislic viewpoint provides an historical definition of adaptation and an operational ecological test for evolutionary adaptations. Adaptation is apomorphic function promoted by natural selection, as compared with plesiomorphic function. Adaptation is thus a conditional, hierarchical, comparative term, like homology. Hypotheses of adaptation that do not specify levels of apomorphy are weak; ...

The Pholcidae subfamily Smeringopinae has been revised extensively over the last decade, and most of its currently eight genera can now be placed with some confidence in phylogeny family. A notable exception endemic Seychellois genus Cenemus Saaristo, 2001. Morphologically, is mainly characterized by plesiomorphies, which resulted weakly supported unstable positions previous cladistic analyses....

For about a century and a half now one of the usual tasks of historical linguistics has been reconstructing the prehistory of linguistic communities. (That is, of course, the side of reconstruction that non-linguists are interested in.) A perennial question is what sort of model of linguistic diversification best fits the data. This paper will explore that question in the light of data supporti...

Accepted 5 January 1999 Carpenter, J. M. (1999). What do we know about chrysidoid (Hymenoptera) relationships?. Ð Zoologica Scripta 28, 215±231. The phylogeny of the superfamily Chrysidoidea is reviewed. Relationships among the families proposed by Carpenter (1986) were confirmed by Brothers and Carpenter (1993). The status of knowledge of phylogenetic relationships within families is assessed....

The classifications of primates, in general, and platyrrhine primates, in particular, have been greatly revised subsequent to the rationale for taxonomic decisions shifting from one rooted in the biological species concept to one rooted solely in phylogenetic affiliations. Given the phylogenetic justification provided for revised taxonomies, the scientific validity of taxonomic distinctions can...