Pan paniscus and Hominoid Phytogeny: Morphological Data, Molecular Data and ‘Total Evidence’

1997 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Véronique Barriel
2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael Robles ◽  
Peter C. Dworschak ◽  
Darryl L. Felder ◽  
Gary C. B. Poore ◽  
Fernando L. Mantelatto

The axiidean families Callianassidae and Ctenochelidae, sometimes treated together as Callianassoidea, are shown to represent a monophyletic taxon. It comprises 265 accepted species in 74 genera, twice this number of species if fossil taxa are included. The higher taxonomy of the group has proved difficult and fluid. In a molecular phylogenetic approach, we inferred evolutionary relationships from a maximum-likelihood (ML) and Bayesian analysis of four genes, mitochondrial 16S rRNA and 12S rRNA along with nuclear histone H3 and 18S rRNA. Our sample consisted of 298 specimens representing 123 species plus two species each of Axiidae and Callianideidae serving as outgroups. This number represented about half of all known species, but included 26 species undescribed or not confidently identified, 9% of all known. In a parallel morphological approach, the published descriptions of all species were examined and detailed observations made on about two-thirds of the known fauna in museum collections. A DELTA (Description Language for Taxonomy), database of 135 characters was made for 195 putative species, 18 of which were undescribed. A PAUP analysis found small clades coincident with the terminal clades found in the molecular treatment. Bayesian analysis of a total-evidence dataset combined elements of both molecular and morphological analyses. Clades were interpreted as seven families and 53 genera. Seventeen new genera are required to reflect the molecular and morphological phylograms. Relationships between the families and genera inferred from the two analyses differed between the two strategies in spite of retrospective searches for morphological features supporting intermediate clades. The family Ctenochelidae was recovered in both analyses but the monophyly of Paragourretia was not supported by molecular data. The hitherto well recognised family Eucalliacidae was found to be polyphyletic in the molecular analysis, but the family and its genera were well defined by morphological synapomorphies. The phylogram for Callianassidae suggested the isolation of several species from the genera to which they had traditionally been assigned and necessitated 12 new generic names. The same was true for Callichiridae, with stronger ML than Bayesian support, and five new genera are proposed. Morphological data did not reliably reflect generic relationships inferred from the molecular analysis though they did diagnose terminal taxa treated as genera. We conclude that discrepancies between molecular and morphological analyses are due at least in part to missing sequences for key species, but no less to our inability to recognise unambiguously informative morphological synapomorphies. The ML analysis revealed the presence of at least 10 complexes wherein 2–4 cryptic species masquerade under single species names.


2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 20151003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Guillerme ◽  
Natalie Cooper

Analyses of living and fossil taxa are crucial for understanding biodiversity through time. The total evidence method allows living and fossil taxa to be combined in phylogenies, using molecular data for living taxa and morphological data for living and fossil taxa. With this method, substantial overlap of coded anatomical characters among living and fossil taxa is vital for accurately inferring topology. However, although molecular data for living species are widely available, scientists generating morphological data mainly focus on fossils. Therefore, there are fewer coded anatomical characters in living taxa, even in well-studied groups such as mammals. We investigated the number of coded anatomical characters available in phylogenetic matrices for living mammals and how these were phylogenetically distributed across orders. Eleven of 28 mammalian orders have less than 25% species with available characters; this has implications for the accurate placement of fossils, although the issue is less pronounced at higher taxonomic levels. In most orders, species with available characters are randomly distributed across the phylogeny, which may reduce the impact of the problem. We suggest that increased morphological data collection efforts for living taxa are needed to produce accurate total evidence phylogenies.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachary H. Griebenow

Abstract.Although molecular data have proven indispensable in confidently resolving the phylogeny of many clades across the tree of life, these data may be inaccessible for certain taxa. The resolution of taxonomy in the ant subfamily Leptanillinae is made problematic by the absence of DNA sequence data for leptanilline taxa that are known only from male specimens, including the monotypic genus Phaulomyrma Wheeler & Wheeler. Focusing upon the considerable diversity of undescribed male leptanilline morphospecies, the phylogeny of 35 putative morphospecies sampled from across the Leptanillinae, plus an outgroup, is inferred from 11 nuclear loci and 41 discrete male morphological characters using a Bayesian total-evidence framework, with Phaulomyrma represented by morphological data only. Based upon the results of this analysis Phaulomyrma is synonymized with Leptanilla Emery, and male-based diagnoses for Leptanilla that are grounded in phylogeny are provided, under both broad and narrow circumscriptions of that genus. This demonstrates the potential utility of a total-evidence approach in inferring the phylogeny of rare extant taxa for which molecular data are unavailable and begins a long-overdue systematic revision of the Leptanillinae that is focused on male material.


2005 ◽  
Vol 272 (1572) ◽  
pp. 1577-1586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niklas Wahlberg ◽  
Michael F Braby ◽  
Andrew V.Z Brower ◽  
Rienk de Jong ◽  
Ming-Min Lee ◽  
...  

Phylogenetic relationships among major clades of butterflies and skippers have long been controversial, with no general consensus even today. Such lack of resolution is a substantial impediment to using the otherwise well studied butterflies as a model group in biology. Here we report the results of a combined analysis of DNA sequences from three genes and a morphological data matrix for 57 taxa (3258 characters, 1290 parsimony informative) representing all major lineages from the three putative butterfly super-families (Hedyloidea, Hesperioidea and Papilionoidea), plus out-groups representing other ditrysian Lepidoptera families. Recently, the utility of morphological data as a source of phylogenetic evidence has been debated. We present the first well supported phylogenetic hypothesis for the butterflies and skippers based on a total-evidence analysis of both traditional morphological characters and new molecular characters from three gene regions ( COI , EF-1α and wingless ). All four data partitions show substantial hidden support for the deeper nodes, which emerges only in a combined analysis in which the addition of morphological data plays a crucial role. With the exception of Nymphalidae, the traditionally recognized families are found to be strongly supported monophyletic clades with the following relationships: (Hesperiidae+(Papilionidae+(Pieridae+(Nymphalidae+(Lycaenidae+Riodinidae))))). Nymphalidae is recovered as a monophyletic clade but this clade does not have strong support. Lycaenidae and Riodinidae are sister groups with strong support and we suggest that the latter be given family rank. The position of Pieridae as the sister taxon to nymphalids, lycaenids and riodinids is supported by morphology and the EF-1α data but conflicted by the COI and wingless data. Hedylidae are more likely to be related to butterflies and skippers than geometrid moths and appear to be the sister group to Papilionoidea+Hesperioidea.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachary H. Griebenow

Although molecular data have proven indispensable in confidently resolving the phylogeny of many clades across the tree of life, these data may be inaccessible for certain taxa. The resolution of taxonomy in the ant subfamily Leptanillinae is made problematic by the absence of DNA sequence data for leptanilline taxa that are known only from male specimens, including the monotypic genus Phaulomyrma Wheeler & Wheeler. Focusing upon the considerable diversity of undescribed male leptanilline morphospecies, the phylogeny of 35 putative morphospecies sampled from across the Leptanillinae, plus an outgroup, is inferred from 11 nuclear loci and 41 discrete male morphological characters using a Bayesian total-evidence framework, with Phaulomyrma represented by morphological data only. Based upon the results of this analysis Phaulomyrma is synonymised with Leptanilla Emery, and male-based diagnoses for Leptanilla that are grounded in phylogeny are provided, under both broad and narrow circumscriptions of that genus. This demonstrates the potential utility of a total-evidence approach in inferring the phylogeny of rare extant taxa for which molecular data are unavailable and begins a long-overdue systematic revision of the Leptanillinae that is focused on male material.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cara Van Der Wal ◽  
Shane T. Ahyong ◽  
Simon Y. W. Ho ◽  
Luana S. F. Lins ◽  
Nathan Lo

The mantis shrimp superfamily Squilloidea, with over 185 described species, is the largest superfamily in the crustacean order Stomatopoda. To date, phylogenetic relationships within this superfamily have been comprehensively analysed using morphological data, with six major generic groupings being recovered. Here, we infer the phylogeny of Squilloidea using a combined dataset comprising 75 somatic morphological characters and four molecular markers. Nodal support is low when the morphological and molecular datasets are analysed separately but improves substantially when combined in a total-evidence phylogenetic analysis. We obtain a well resolved and strongly supported phylogeny that is largely congruent with previous estimates except that the Anchisquilloides-group, rather than the Meiosquilla-group, is the earliest-branching lineage in Squilloidea. The splits among the Anchisquilloides- and Meiosquilla-groups are followed by those of the Clorida-, Harpiosquilla-, Squilla- and Oratosquilla-groups. Most of the generic groups are recovered as monophyletic, with the exception of the Squilla- and Oratosquilla-groups. However, many genera within the Oratosquilla-group are not recovered as monophyletic. Further exploration with more extensive molecular sampling will be needed to resolve relationships within the Oratosquilla-group and to investigate the adaptive radiation of squilloids. Overall, our results demonstrate the merit of combining morphological and molecular datasets for resolving phylogenetic relationships.


2020 ◽  
Vol 89 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Alfredo Holley ◽  
Juliana Sterli ◽  
Néstor G. Basso

Pan-Chelidae (Testudines, Pleurodira) is a group of side-necked turtles with a currently disjointed distribution in South America and Australasia and characterized by two morphotypes: the long-necked and the short-necked chelids. Both geographic groups include both morphotypes, but different phylogenetic signals are obtained from morphological and molecular data, suggesting the monophyly of the long-necked chelids or the independent evolution of this trait in both groups. In this paper, we addressed this conflict by compiling and editing available molecular and morphological data for Pan-Chelidae, and performing phylogenetic and dating analyses over the individual and the combined datasets. Our total-evidence phylogenetic analysis recovered the clade Chelidae as monophyletic and as sister group of a clade of South American extinct chelids; furthermore Chelidae retained inside the classical molecular structure with the addition of extinct taxa in both the Australasian and the South American clades. Our dating results suggest a Middle Jurassic origin for the total clade Pan-Chelidae, an Early Cretaceous origin for Chelidae, a Late Cretaceous basal diversification of both geographic clades with the emergence of long-necked lineages, and an Eocene diversification at genera level, with the emergence of some species before the final breakup of Southern Gondwana and the remaining species after this event.


1995 ◽  
Vol 73 (S1) ◽  
pp. 667-676 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders Tehler

Two data sets, one morphological and one molecular, for ascolocular fungi have been analysed separately for taxonomic congruence and in combination for total evidence. Data were analysed with cladistic parsimony, the total support test, and the congruence test. The morphological data set comprised 15 characters and four species, Arthonia radiata, Dendrographa leucophaea, Lecanactis abietina, and Schismatomma pericleum (Arthoniales). The molecular data include the same species and comprised sequence data with 21 informative sites from approximately half of the 18S ribosomal RNA gene. The morphological phylogeny is corroborated by the molecular phylogeny with regard to relationships of Arthonia radiata, Schismatomma pericleum, and Dendrographa leucophaea. But in the molecular phylogeny Lecanactis abietina is placed as a sister species to the former three species. In the phylogeny inferred from morphological data Lecanactis abietina and Dendrographa leucophaea constitute a sister pair with Schismatomma pericleum followed by Arthonia radiata as subsequent sister taxa. The consensus obtained from the taxonomic congruence method was fully collapsed and uninformative. The combined morphological and molecular data in total evidence produced one most parsimonious cladogram. In total evidence Lecanactis abietina is placed as sister species to Schismatomma pericleum and Dendrographa leucophaea all with Arthonia radiata as sister species. The most resolved and phylogenetically informative hypothesis was obtained from cladistic parsimony analysis using total evidence. A review of congruence between morphological and molecular data in determining gross relationships within the Eumycota and Ascomycetes is also given. Key words: Ascomycetes, Arthoniales, phylogeny, cladistics, taxonomic congruence, total evidence, 18SrDNA.


2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Guillerme ◽  
Natalie Cooper

Analyses of living and fossil taxa are crucial for understanding changes in biodiversity through time. The Total Evidence method allows living and fossil taxa to be combined in phylogenies, by using molecular data for living taxa and morphological data for both living and fossil taxa. With this method, substantial overlap of morphological data among living and fossil taxa is crucial for accurately inferring topology. However, although molecular data for living species is widely available, scientists using and generating morphological data mainly focus on fossils. Therefore, there is a gap in our knowledge of neontological morphological data even in well-studied groups such as mammals. We investigated the amount of morphological (cladistic) data available for living mammals and how this data was phylogenetically distributed across orders. 22 of 28 mammalian orders have < 25% species with available morphological data; this has implications for the accurate placement of fossil taxa, although the issue is less pronounced at higher taxonomic levels. In most orders, species with available data are randomly distributed across the phylogeny, which may reduce the impact of the problem. We suggest that increased morphological data collection efforts for living taxa are needed to produce accurate Total Evidence phylogenies.


2006 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 415 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingi Agnarsson

Uniquely among spiders, males of two cobweb spider (Theridiidae) genera, Tidarren Chamberlin & Ivie, 1934 and Echinotheridion Levi, 1963, voluntarily amputate one of their secondary sexual organs (the pedipalpi, modified as sperm transfer organs) before their last molt and thus have only one palp as adults. This is the first step in a fascinating sexual biology observed in both genera, which is marked by sexual dimorphism – males are tiny compared with females – and usually involves both emasculation and sexual cannibalism. To study the evolution of these striking traits it is essential to understand the phylogenetic relationship of these genera. Both morphological and molecular data place Tidarren in the subfamily Theridiinae. However, Echinotheridion has not been placed phylogenetically to date owing to rarity of specimens, and difficulty of interpreting the highly autapomorphic palpal organ, the main source of morphological characters. Here, the phylogenetic position of Echinotheridion is inferred using fragments of three nuclear (Histone 3, 18S rDNA, and 28S rDNA) and two mitochondrial (16S rDNA and COI) loci. Each matrix separately, and a combined matrix, were analysed using parsimony with gaps either treated as missing data, or as 5th state, and with Bayesian methods. Although all genes agree that Tidarren and Echinotheridion are closely related, perhaps surprisingly, none of the analyses supported their sister relationship. The sister relationship was ambiguously supported in a preliminary morphological analysis, whereas combined molecular and morphological data refuted it. This implies a more complex evolutionary history of male sexual organ removal and other bizarre sexual biology of Tidarren and Echinotheridion than previously envisioned. Many of the analyses are equally consistent with two hypotheses: a single origin, followed by a secondary loss; or independent evolution of this behaviour in the two genera. However, based on the combined molecular Bayesian phylogeny, and some of the preliminary ‘total evidence’ analyses, the latter hypothesis is better supported.


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