Pairwise comparisons between different distance measures for complete mammalian mtDNA.

Compared are the abilities of to correctly classify a large number of quartets. First, the topologies of the quartet trees obtained with two distances and are computed. The quartets with “worst” disagreements are then looked up in the literature. Based on the literature consensus it is decided which of the two topologies is correct – unless both are wrong, or no consensus can be arrived at due to non-existent or conflicting literature. The four numbers in the columns 3 to 6 are the number of cases in which (1) the distance measure predicted the correct topology, (2) predicted the correct topology, (3) none of them did, and (4) no decision is possible.