Data from: Combined Support for Wholesale Taxic Atavism in Gavialine Crocodylians

Morphological and molecular data sets favor robustly supported,
contradictory interpretations of crocodylian phylogeny. A longstanding
perception in the field of systematics is that such significantly
conflicting data sets should be analyzed separately. Here we utilize a
combined approach, simultaneous analysis of all relevant character data,
to summarize common support and to reconcile discrepancies among data
sets. By conjoining rather than separating incongruent classes of data,
secondary phylogenetic signals emerge from both molecular and
morphological character sets and provide solid evidence for a unified
hypothesis of crocodylian phylogeny. Simultaneous analysis of four gene
sequences and paleontological data suggest that putative adaptive
convergences in the jaws of gavialines (gavials) and tomistomines (false
gavials) offer character support for a grouping of these taxa, making
Gavialinae an atavistic taxon. Simple new methods for measuring the
influence of extinct taxa on topological support indicate that in this
vertebrate order fossils generally stabilize relationships and accentuate
hidden phylogenetic signals. Remaining inconsistencies in our most
well-supported tree, including concentrated hierarchical patterns of
homoplasy and extensive gaps in the fossil record, indicate where future
work in crocodylian systematics should be directed.