THE IMPORTANCE OF FOSSIL TAXA IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF NEOPTERYGIAN INTERRELATIONSHIPS
PAULO M. BRITO, LÚCIO P.C. MACHADO, CESAR R. AMARAL AND DIOGO DE MAYRINCK
Departamento de Biologia Animal e Vegetal, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro.
Presented by ALEXANDER W.A. KELLNER
Since the beginning of the 1970's the Neopterygii are considered a monophyletic group, composed by two clades: the Ginglymodi, represented nowadays by the extant gars, and the Halecostomi, represented by the extant Amia calva (Halecomorphi) plus the Teleostei. The discovery of new Mesozoic taxa, the amount of new morphological and ontogenetic data, plus the advance of new techniques and methodologies led us to generate new hypothesis of phylogenetic relationships for the Neopterygii.
The principal results obtained were: a) even if the Neopterygii form a monophyletic group, the relationships between this inclusive clade are still unresolved; b) in our hypothesis, the Ginglymodi are considered the sister group of the halecomorphs or they form a clade with the teleosts; c) the Halecostomi are not a monophyletic group; and finally d) these results corroborate some hypothesis of relationships proposed using molecular biology. ( December 20, 2001 ).
Publication Dates
-
Publication in this collection
17 July 2002 -
Date of issue
June 2002
