High level of phenotypic homoplasy amongst eutardigrades ( T ardigrada) based on morphological and total evidence phylogenetic analyses

Much of what is known about the phylogenetic relationships of the neglected phylum T ardigrada comes from molecular data, rather than from morphology‐based phylogenetic studies. S everal molecular phylogenies have been proposed, but morphological and total evidence phylogenetic approaches are scarce. W e performed the first morphological phylogeny (based on maximum parsimony and B ayesian inference) including all genera from the class E utardigrada. F urthermore, we carried out a total evidence approach adding molecular information available in public databases. W e compared the morphological and total evidence phylogenies with current molecular hypotheses and E utardigrada classifications, which our results partially support. T hese classifications were supported only when homoplastic characters (related to the buccopharyngeal apparatus) were excluded. T he importance of morphological phylogenies is discussed as well as their utility for questioning current phylogenetic hypotheses and classifications based solely on molecular information. L astly, we propose evolutionary hypotheses about eutardigrade phylogenetic relationships that should be tested based on our morphological results. © 2013 The Linnean Society of London