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Viewing Paleobiology Through the Lens of Phylogeny

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2017

Colin D. Sumrall
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Tennessee Knoxville, TN 37996
Christopher A. Brochu
Affiliation:
Department of Geoscience, University of Iowa Iowa City, IA 52242
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Abstract

Phylogenetic systematics is the dominant form of taxonomy for most biologists, vertebrate paleontologists and to a lesser degree invertebrate paleontologists. Taxonomies are based strictly on evolutionary relationships with traits of organisms such as morphology and sequence data, being used as evidence for relationships. Two types of taxa are recognized - species that may be monophyletic or paraphyletic and clades that must be monophyletic. The phylogeny is an hypothesis of relationships that can be used to illuminate many areas of paleobiology including: unsampled morphology from incompletely preserved organisms, temporal distribution of taxa, and evolutionary patterns and mechanisms. Consequently, an understanding of phylogenetic assumptions, experimental design, and language are critical for the incorporation of phylogenetic taxonomies into larger studies of paleobiology.

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Copyright © by the Paleontological Society 

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