| Abstract |
Incorporating fossils into schemes for the phylogenetic relationships of decapod crustaceans
has been difficult because of the generally incomplete nature of the fossil record. Now a fairly
robust data matrix of characters and taxa relevant to the phylogeny of decapods has been
derived from consideration of living forms. We chose several taxa from the fossil record to test
whether the robustness of the matrix can withstand insertion of fossils with various degrees
of incomplete information. The essential structure of the original tree survives, and reasonable
hypotheses about the affinities of selected fossils emerge. Sometimes we detected singular
positions on our trees that indicate a high certainty about where certain taxa fit, while under
other conditions there are alternative positions to choose from. Definitive answers are not to
be expected. Rather, what is important is the demonstration of the usefulness of a method
that can entertain and specifically document multiple alternative hypotheses. |
