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Turtle phylogeny



Ben Creisler
bcreisler@gmail.com


A new online paper:

Nicholas G. Crawford, James F. Parham, Anna B. Sellas, Brant C.
Faircloth, Travis C. Glenn, Theodore J. Papenfuss, James B. Henderson,
Madison H. Hansen & W. Brian Simison (2014)
A phylogenomic analysis of turtles.
Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution (advance online publication)
DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2014.10.021
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1055790314003819


Highlights

2,004 Ultraconserved element (UCE) loci resolve relationships among
living turtles.
The UCE phylogeny is used to test and development a phylogenetic nomenclature.
The UCE phylogeny is more consistent with biogeography and
stratigraphy of fossil turtles than morphological hypotheses.
The UCE phylogeny provides a scaffold for paleontological studies.



Abstract

Molecular analyses of turtle relationships have overturned prevailing
morphological hypotheses and prompted the development of a new
taxonomy. Here we provide the first genome-scale analysis of turtle
phylogeny. We sequenced 2,381 ultraconserved element (UCE) loci
representing a total of 1,718,154 bp of aligned sequence. Our sampling
includes 32 turtle taxa representing all 14 recognized turtle families
and an additional six outgroups. Maximum likelihood, Bayesian, and
species tree methods produce a single resolved phylogeny. This robust
phylogeny shows that proposed phylogenetic names correspond to
well-supported clades, and this topology is more consistent with the
temporal appearance of clades and paleobiogeography. Future studies of
turtle phylogeny using fossil turtles should use this topology as a
scaffold for their morphological phylogenetic analyses.