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Paleontological data and molecular phylogenetic analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2016

Andrew B. Smith  and
D. T. J. Littlewood
Andrew B. Smith
Affiliation:
Department of Palaeontology, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, United Kingdom
D. T. J. Littlewood
Affiliation:
Department of Palaeontology, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, United Kingdom
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Abstract

Molecular data are becoming an indispensable tool for the reconstruction of phylogenies. Fossil molecular data remain scarce, but have the potential to resolve patterns of deep branching and provide empirical tests of tree reconstruction techniques. A total evidence approach, combining and comparing complementary morphological, molecular and stratigraphical data from both recent and fossil taxa, is advocated as the most promising way forward because there are several well-established problems that can afflict the analysis of molecular sequence data sometimes resulting in spurious tree topologies. The integration of evidence allows us to: (1) choose suitable taxa for molecular phylogenetic analysis for the question at hand; (2) discriminate between conflicting hypotheses of taxonomic relationship and phylogeny; (3) evaluate procedures and assumptions underlying methods of building trees; and (4) estimate rates of molecular evolution in the geological past. Paleontology offers a set of independent data for comparison and corroboration of analyses and provides the only direct means of calibrating molecular trees, thus giving insight into rates of molecular evolution in the geological past.

Type
Research Article
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 20 , Issue 3 , Summer 1994 , pp. 259 - 273
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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References

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