Hominid origins and genetic characters

[Curtis Clark]

At 11:29 2003-06-19 -0400, John Grehan wrote:
>Yes I am aware of this approach. I have seen it applied to morphological
>studies of primate phylogeny. While it is an accepted approach I have
>difficulty, at present, seeing this as anything more than simply a
>parsimony analysis of phenetic (unpolarized) characters dressed up in
>cladistic language.

Outgroup comparison is a special case of general parsimony. If one accepts
outgroup analysis as the preferred method of character state polarization,
if the outgroup is analyzed simultaneously with the ingroup, and if the
root lies anywhere within the outgroup, the methods are methodologically
identical.


--
Curtis Clark                  http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark/
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