Optimal cladistic and quantitative evolutionary classifications as illustrated by fusilier Fishes (Teleostei: Caesionidae)
Carpenter, K.E. (1993). Optimal cladistic and quantitative evolutionary classifications as illustrated by fusilier Fishes (Teleostei: Caesionidae). Syst. Biol. 42(2): 142-154. https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/42.2.142
In: Systematic Biology. Oxford University Press: Washington, D.C.. ISSN 1063-5157; e-ISSN 1076-836X, more
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| Abstract |
Explicit cladistic and evolutionary methods are available to infer dendrogram structures that represent cladistic and anagenetic relationships. Formal Linnaean ranking from these dendrograms, however, has largely been done subjectively. For a classification of 20 species of fusilier fishes restricted to three ranks, there are 18 possible combinations of taxa that can be used for supraspecific ranks from the quantitative evolutionary analysis presented here and a minimum of 13 possible ranks for a cladistic classification. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate with the Caesionidae a method of choosing objectively among possible evolutionary and cladistic classifications, using the dendrogram structure of the Linnaean hierarchy and theoptimality criterion of information content. A sequenced, annotated, quantitative evolutionary classification is chosen to represent the Caesionidae based on its ability to reflect both cladistic and patristic relationships, its high information content, and its stability with respect to previously used classifications. |
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