Summary
1. Methods of numerical analysis are discussed which have given little support to earlier classifications and have recommended radical changes in the taxonomy of some Indo-Australian Drepanidae. | |||||
2. The results of a cluster analysis and a principal coordinates analysis on 88 species and subspecies have been discussed. | |||||
3. Graphs with minimum spanning trees are illustrated to show a method of representing information from both analyses together. | |||||
4. Multi-dimensional graphs indicate the phenetic relationship of species within each genus. | |||||
5. The numerical taxonomic position of species is compared with that derived by recent classical taxonomic methods. The reasons for minor discrepancies are discussed. | |||||
6. Numerical results have assisted in deciding whether some groups of individuals should have specific or subspecific rank. In other cases whether an individual belongs to a particular genus or not, has been indicated by the numerical results. |