Stasis and convergence characterize morphological evolution in eupolypod II ferns.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

Patterns of morphological evolution at levels above family rank remain underexplored in the ferns. The present study seeks to address this gap through analysis of 79 morphological characters for 81 taxa, including representatives of all ten families of eupolypod II ferns. Recent molecular phylogenetic studies demonstrate that the evolution of the large eupolypod II clade (which includes nearly one-third of extant fern species) features unexpected patterns. The traditional 'athyrioid' ferns are scattered across the phylogeny despite their apparent morphological cohesiveness, and mixed among these seemingly conservative taxa are morphologically dissimilar groups that lack any obvious features uniting them with their relatives. Maximum-likelihood and maximum-parsim

SUBMITTER: Sundue MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3864719 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature