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Building large trees by combining phylogenetic information: a complete phylogeny of the extant Carnivora (Mammalia)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 1999

OLAF R. P. BININDA-EMONDS
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PS, U.K. Present address: Section of Evolution and Ecology, One Shields Avenue, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA 95616, U.S.A. E-mail: orbininda@ucdavis.edu.
JOHN L. GITTLEMAN
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, 37996–1610, U.S.A. Present address: Department of Biology, Gilmer Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903, U.S.A. E-mail: JLGittleman@virginia.edu.
ANDY PURVIS
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Imperial College at Silwood Park, Ascot, Berks SL5 7PY, U.K. E-mail: a.purvis@ic.ac.uk
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Abstract

One way to build larger, more comprehensive phylogenies is to combine the vast amount of phylogenetic information already available. We review the two main strategies for accomplishing this (combining raw data versus combining trees), but employ a relatively new variant of the latter: supertree construction. The utility of one supertree technique, matrix representation using parsimony analysis (MRP), is demonstrated by deriving a complete phylogeny for all 271 extant species of the Carnivora from 177 literature sources. Beyond providing a ‘consensus’ estimate of carnivore phylogeny, the tree also indicates taxa for which the relationships remain controversial (e.g. the red panda; within canids, felids, and hyaenids) or have not been studied in any great detail (e.g. herpestids, viverrids, and intrageneric relationships in the procyonids). Times of divergence throughout the tree were also estimated from 74 literature sources based on both fossil and molecular data. We use the phylogeny to show that some lineages within the Mustelinae and Canidae contain significantly more species than expected for their age, illustrating the tree's utility for studies of macroevolution. It will also provide a useful foundation for comparative and conservational studies involving the carnivores.

Type
Review Article
Copyright
Cambridge Philosophical Society 1999

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