A phylogenetic analysis of Mustelidae using morpho-geometric data of multiple skeletal elements

CATALANO, SANTIAGO ANDRÉS; PREVOSTI, FRANCISCO; ERCOLI, MARCOS

Rostock

Congreso; XXXIII Meeting de la Sociedad Willi Hennig; 2013

Universidad de Rostock

Mustelidae is one of the most diverse Family of the Order Carnivora, having a very high morphological disparity. Although the first phylogenies were based on discrete morphological characters , the accepted phylogeny for the group is mainly based on molecular data, differing substantially from the former. The objective of this work is to explore the phylogenetic information contained in morpho-geometrics characters, and the utility of these charactersto solvethe phylogeny of this group. We included 64 musteloids species, and six two dimensional landmark configuration: ventral view of the cranium, lateral of view of mandible, lateral view of scapula, anterior view of humerus, lateral view of ulna, and proximal view of tibia. The phylogenetic trees obtained in the analyses recovered some of the clades retrieved in previous molecular works, including Mustelidae, Ursidae, Guloninae, Lutrinae, Melinae, and the monophyly of many genera. However, Mephitidae, Procyonidae, some Subfamilies and species clades traditionally recognized remains polyphyletic. The convergent morphologies of particular species explain some of these cases. The result suggests that morpho-geometrics characters are suitable for phylogenetic analyses, though, the relative merits of this source of characters should be still more deeply explored.