Eumalacostracan phylogeny and total evidence: limitations of the usual suspects.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The phylogeny of Eumalacostraca (Crustacea) remains elusive, despite over a century of interest. Recent morphological and molecular phylogenies appear highly incongruent, but this has not been assessed quantitatively. Moreover, 18S rRNA trees show striking branch length differences between species, accompanied by a conspicuous clustering of taxa with similar branch lengths. Surprisingly, previous research found no rate heterogeneity. Hitherto, no phylogenetic analysis of all major eumalacostracan taxa (orders) has either combined evidence from multiple loci, or combined molecular and morphological evidence.

Results

We combined evidence from four nuclear ribosomal and mitochondrial loci (18S rRNA, 28S rRNA, 16S rRNA, and cytochrome c oxidase subunit I) with a newly

SUBMITTER: Jenner RA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2640363 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature