The reduced cladistic consensus method offers a means of avoiding the lack of resolution frequently observed when large numbers of equally parsimonious trees are summarized in a strict component consensus tree. It does so by identifying relationships (in the form of n‐taxon statements) that are unambiguously supported by the parsimonious interpretation of the data. We apply the method to qualitative morphological character data for 70 genera from the clade containing the cassiduloid echinoids. A sample of 31,000 most parsimonious trees contains 21 basic reduced cladistic consensus trees. As these cannot be combined into any single highly resolved consensus for the majority of the taxa, the multiple most parsimonious trees do not differ solely in the placement of a small number of taxa. The homoplasy present in the morphological data prevents the determination of a robust cassiduloid phylogeny.
The reduced cladistic consensus method and cassiduloid echinoid phylogeny
Reprints and Corporate Permissions
Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?
To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:
Academic Permissions
Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?
Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:
If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.
Related Research Data
Related research
People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.
Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.
Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.