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The Phylogeny of the Gasterosteidae: Combining Behavioral and Morphological Data Sets
Author(s) -
McLennan Deborah A.,
Mattern Michelle Y.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
cladistics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.323
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 1096-0031
pISSN - 0748-3007
DOI - 10.1111/j.1096-0031.2001.tb00108.x
Subject(s) - phylogenetic tree , gasterosteus , biology , phylogenetics , consistency (knowledge bases) , evolutionary biology , consistency index , set (abstract data type) , stickleback , a priori and a posteriori , zoology , artificial intelligence , computer science , fish <actinopterygii> , fishery , philosophy , materials science , epistemology , rheology , gene , composite material , programming language , biochemistry
Genealogical relationships among the five genera of stickleback (Gasterosteidae: Smegmomorpha) fishes were reconstructed based upon 47 behavioral and 89 morphological characters. Phylogenetic systematic analysis of the combined data set produced a single MPT (consistency index of 82.54%) structured ( Spinachia ( Apeltes‐((Pungitius + Culaea )( Gasterosteus aculeatus + G. wheatlandi )))). When analyzed separately, both behavioral and morphological data sets produced the same tree topology, although the consistency index (excluding uninformative characters) was higher for the behavioral (90.70%) than for the morphological (68.13%) characters. This total evidence analysis provides a highly robust estimate of phylogeny for the sticklebacks and reiterates the importance of discarding a priori biases about behavioral evolution when selecting characters for phylogenetic analysis.