Molecular markers have facilitated a better understanding of the evolution of fungi. Molecular phylogenetics determined the closest relatives of fungi and defined natural groups within the true fungi. The impact of molecular markers on the population biology of fungi has been enormous, helping to define cryptic species and elucidating fungal breeding biology. The interaction between molecular p...

The freshwater mussel family Hyriidae (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Unionida) has a disjunct trans-Pacific distribution in Australasia and South America. Previous phylogenetic analyses have estimated the evolutionary relationships of the family and the major infra-familial taxa (Velesunioninae and Hyriinae: Hyridellini in Australia; Hyriinae: Hyriini, Castaliini, and Rhipidodontini in South America), bu...

We can place more than just organisms into trees: individual genes from the genomes of various organisms can also be placed into trees, and from these gene phylogenies, we can often infer the species phylogenies. Often, this is done with the geological record in mind: not all branches of the tree of life terminate in the present – there are many that end in the various mass extinctions that hav...