We elaborate a framework for investigating the evolutionary history of morphological characters. We argue that morphological character trees generated by phylogenetic analysis of transcriptomes provide a useful tool for identifying causal gene expression differences underlying the development and evolution of morphological characters. They also enable rigorous testing of different models of mor...

■ Abstract Until recently, studies of plant reproductive systems have been at the population level, using microevolutionary approaches. The development of cladistic approaches, combined with the emergence of molecular systematics, has resulted in an explosion of phylogenetic studies and an increase in interdisciplinary approaches combining ecological and systematic methodology. These new approa...

The homobasidiomycetes is a diverse group of macrofungi that includes mushrooms, puffballs, coral fungi, and other forms. This study used maximum likelihood methods to determine if there are general trends (evolutionary tendencies) in the evolution of fruiting body forms in homobasidiomycetes, and to estimate the ancestral forms of the homobasidiomycetes and euagarics clade. Character evolution...