Molecular phylogenetic evidence for the independent evolutionary origin of an arthropod compound eye.

ABSTRACT: Eyes often take a central role in discussions of evolution, with debate focused on how often such complex organs might have evolved. One such debate is whether arthropod compound eyes are the product of single or multiple origins. Here we use molecular phylogeny to address this long-standing debate and find results favoring the multiple-origins hypothesis. Our analyses of DNA sequences encoding rRNA unequivocally indicate that myodocopids--the only Ostracoda (Crustacea) with compound eyes--are nested phylogenetically within several groups that lack compound eyes. With our well-supported phylogeny, standard maximum likelihood (ML) character reconstruction methods significantly reconstruct ancestral ostracods as lacking compound eyes. We also introduce a likelihood sensitivity analysis, and

SUBMITTER: Oakley TH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC122207 | biostudies-literature | 2002 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature