Cladistic hypotheses

[J. Kirk Fitzhugh]

At 05:10 PM 11/23/2005 +0200, you wrote:
>1. Is'nt a cladogram a hypothesis of relationships AND of character state
>distributions?

A cladogram is an explanatory hypothesis - it is the product of an
inferential act where one causally accounts for shared similarities as
effects of common ancestry, or by way of other events, i.e., homoplasy.

Kirk

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J. Kirk Fitzhugh, Ph.D.
Curator of Polychaetes
Invertebrate Zoology Section
Research & Collections Branch
Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History
900 Exposition Blvd
Los Angeles CA 90007

Phone:   213-763-3233
FAX:     213-746-2999
e-mail:  kfitzhug at nhm.org
http://www.nhm.org/research/annelida/staff.html
http://www.nhm.org/research/annelida/index.html
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