Dealing With Incompleteness: New Advances for the Use of Fossils in Phylogenetic Analysis

Tomescu

2018

American J of Botany

Our results suggest that morphology is useful in resolving phylogenetic relationships in the Polytrichaceae, if both discrete and continuous characters are used. However, our rooting experiments demonstrate that there is no superior way to root analyses and indicate that relationships within the family are best evaluated using unrooted networks without outgroup taxa. These rooting problems suggest that additional information is needed to understand the phylogenetic relationships of Polytrichaceae. Such additional information could come from fossils of stem group polytrichaceous mosses, which await discovery.

Section: Effect Of Continuous Characterscontrasting

confidence: 74%

Section: Character Selection and Scoringmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wanted dead or alive (probably dead): Stem group Polytrichaceae

Bippus

Tomescu

2018

American J of Botany

“…The molecular‐only support values were nearly identical to previous results for major clades, but as shown in many prior studies, the support values were much lower when fossils were included (i.e., Wilkinson, ; Escapa and Pol, ). The addition of fossils to the analyses introduced uncoded characters, including the missing genetic data and many morphological characters that are not preserved in fossils, all of which lowered the overall support of the tree.…”

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 85%

EoceneAraucariaSect.Eutactafrom Patagonia and floristic turnover during the initial isolation of South America

Rossetto‐Harris

Wilf

et al. 2020

American J of Botany

“…5, green). In this context, it seems that continuous traits such as leaf size can be useful resolving the phylogenetic relationships of groups with recent diversification and reduced morphological divergence, where classic discrete characters may lack sufficient variation (Escapa and Pol 2011). The clade formed by Bunya ϩ Intermedia ϩ Araucaria is supported by five unambiguous morphological synapomorphies of continuous characters (characters 0, 1, 2, 4, 9), and other features represent ambiguous synapomorphies.…”

Section: Relationships Of Extant Araucariaceaementioning

confidence: 99%

Phylogenetic Analysis of Araucariaceae: Integrating Molecules, Morphology, and Fossils

International Journal of Plant Sciences

Catalano

2013

116

103

Premise of research. Phylogenetic relationships of Araucariaceae (Coniferophyta, Araucariales) are revised on the basis of the first combined data matrix for the family.Methodology. Taxon sampling includes 39 ingroup species (31 extant, 8 fossils) and outgroup species of all the remaining conifer families. Five fossil Araucaria species, one species of the genus Araucarites, and two species of the extinct genera Wairarapaia and Emwadea were included in the analyses. Character sampling includes 23 genomic regions (19 plastid, 2 nuclear, and 2 mitochondrial) and 62 morphological characters (52 discrete and 10 continuous). The phylogenetic analyses were conducted with equally weighted parsimony. Additionally, several analyses under different taxon-and gene-sampling regimes were analyzed for identifying the causes of the long-lasting controversies in the interrelationships of the three extant genera of Araucariaceeae.Pivotal results. Monophyletic Araucariaceae is the sister group of Podocarpaceae, forming the order Araucariales. Monophyly of Araucaria and Agathis is also strongly supported by the data. The results of both molecular and combined analyses indicate that Wollemia and Agathis form a clade (pagathioid clade) sister to Araucaria. Within Araucaria, the analyses support the monophyly of the four currently recognized sections: Araucaria, Bunya, Intermedia, and Eutacta. Results support the monophyly of living and fossil Araucaria (including Araucarites), whereas the remaining extinct genera are placed as the stem of the agathioid clade. In terms of the sensitivity analyses performed, results suggest that inconsistencies among previous results would be related to ingroup sampling.Conclusions. By means of a combined phylogenetic analysis, we have been able to obtain a strongly supported and well-resolved phylogeny of Araucariaceae that includes both living species and fossil species for the group. This study shows the feasibility and usefulness of phylogenetic analyses that incorporate multiple sources of evidence (molecules/morphology, living/fossil species, discrete/continuous characters).