In phylogenetic trees the addition and removal of taxa has large effects on tree topology, hence measures of branch support and tree stability should account for taxonomic composition. Currently no comprehensive system of composition-dependent parameters exists in any cladistic or phenetic strategy. We introduce several values and indices based on a modification of the original jackknife resamp...

AIMS: This lab will introduce you to the basal metazoan groups: the Porifera (sponges) and the diploblastic Cnidaria (hydroids, jellyfish, anemones, sea pens, corals, and relatives). You will see examples of the important fossil representatives of these groups: demosponges, hexactinellids, and archaeocyaths (Porifera); and the rugose, tabulate, and scleractinian corals (Cnidaria). The method of...

Haplotype variation in 9.7 kb of genomic DNA sequence from the human lipoprotein lipase (LPL) gene was scored in three populations: African-Americans from Jackson, Mississippi (24 individuals), Finns from North Karelia, Finland (24), and non-Hispanic whites from Rochester, Minnesota (23). Earlier analyses had indicated that recombination was common but concentrated into a hotspot and that recur...

Cladistic analyses of DNA sequences from the nuclear rDNA internal transcribed spacer region and cpDNA rps16 intron and, for a subset of taxa, the cpDNA trnF-trnL-trnT locus were carried out to evaluate the monophyly of Cymopterus and to ascertain its phylogenetic placement among the other perennial genera of Apiaceae (Umbelliferae) subfamily Apioideae endemic to western North America. To eluci...

I investigated the phylogenetic relationships within the New World Blepharida and among related genera, using sequences of the Internal Transcriber Spacer 2 (ITS2) of nuclear ribosomal DNA and sequences of the COI and COII genes of the mitochondrial genome. Cladistic analyses were performed using parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian methods. These methods generated almost identical topol...

The morphological characters of members of the scolopendrid genus Asanada Meinert, 1886 are reviewed. A number of these characters are only seen in embryonic or early adolescent stadia in other scolopendrids. This suggests that the centipedes of this genus are paedomorphic. Support for this thesis is provided by the very rare appearance (in only three specimens) of some otherwise "adult" charac...

Genealogical concordance is a critical overlay of all phylogenetic analyses, irrespective of taxonomic level. To assess such patterns of congruence we have compiled and derived sequence data for two mitochondrial (16S rRNA, COI) and two nuclear (ITS1, p26) markers in 14 American populations of the hypersaline branchiopod Artemia franciscana. Cladistic analysis revealed three reciprocally monoph...

In phylogenetic trees the addition and removal of taxa has large effects on tree topology, hence measures of branch support and tree stability should account for taxonomic composition. Currently no comprehensive system of composition-dependent parameters exists in any cladistic or phenetic strategy. We introduce several values and indices based on a modification of the original jackknife resamp...