Integrating incomplete fossils by isolating conflictive signal in saturated and non-independent morphological characters

Morphological characters are indispensable in phylogenetic analyses for understanding the pattern, process, and tempo of evolution. If characters are independent and free of systematic errors, then combining as many different kinds of characters as are available will result in the best-supported phylogenetic hypotheses. But since morphological characters are subject to natural selection for function and arise from the expression of developmental pathways, they may not be independent, a situation that may amplify any underlying homoplasy. Here, we use new dental and multi-locus genetic data from bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) to quantify saturation and similarity in morphological characters and introduce two likelihood-based approaches to identify strongly conflicting characters and integrate morphological and molecular data. We implement these methods to analyze the phylogeny of incomplete Miocene fossils in the radiation of Phyllostomidae (New World Leaf-nosed Bats), perhaps the most ecol...

形态性状（morphological characters）在系统发育分析（phylogenetic analyses）中是解析演化模式、过程与速率的不可或缺的要素。若性状独立且无系统性误差，则整合尽可能多的不同类型性状，将得到支持度最高的系统发育假说。但由于形态性状受功能相关自然选择的作用，且源于发育通路的表达，它们未必相互独立，这种情形可能加剧潜在的同塑性（homoplasy）问题。本研究利用蝙蝠（哺乳纲：翼手目，Mammalia: Chiroptera）的全新牙齿数据与多位点遗传数据，量化形态性状的饱和性与相似性，并提出两种基于似然法的分析方法以识别强烈冲突的性状，同时整合形态与分子数据。我们运用这些方法分析了叶口蝠科（Phyllostomidae，新大陆叶鼻蝠（New World Leaf-nosed Bats））辐射演化过程中不完整的中新世（Miocene）化石的系统发育关系，该类群或许是生态……