[Taxacom] confused phylogeny?

[Stephen Thorpe]

>whether to accept their overall  phylogeny is the real question

true, but one does hope that authors state their conclusions in an intelligible 
manner ...

actually, a more recent phylogeny (doi: 10.1098/rspb.2009.0896) argues strongly 
for a monophyletic Acoelomorpha at the base of Bilateria, after all ... so 
perhaps we should go with that (at least until the next phylogeny comes along 
and contradicts it again ...)

Stephen



________________________________
From: Kenneth Kinman <kennethkinman at webtv.net>
To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Sent: Sun, 17 October, 2010 3:44:42 PM
Subject: [Taxacom] confused phylogeny?

Hi Stephen,
      Good point.  If you look at their phylogenetic tree, Acoelomorpha
is clearly shown to be paraphyletic.  But they should actually have
stated that it is just a subclade of Acoelomorpha (namely
Nemertodermatida) which is shown as sister group to the rest of
Bilateria.                      
        However, whether to accept their overall  phylogeny is the real
question.  I suspect that it is really their Lophotrochosa which is
paraphyletic and at the base of Bilateria.  The only way I personally
can see Acoelomorpha at the base of Bilateria is if they are highly
derived descendants of very basal lophophorates which have since lost
the characteristic lophophore.  Either way, a paraphyletic Lophophorata
at the base of Bilateria is still the best bet in my opinion.          
          ---------Ken Kinman                        
------------------------------------------------------------- 

Stephen wrote:
can someone explain to me how to interpret this conclusion from a
recent (2009) publication (doi: 10.1093/molbev/msp150): 
>Both inference methods robustly show a paraphyletic >Acoelomorpha as
sister group 
>to the other bilaterians 
how can Acoelomorpha be paraphyletic if it is the sister group to the
other bilaterians??? 
      


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