Ctenodactylidae

Marivaux, Laurent, Vianey-Liaud, Monique & Jaeger, Jean-Jacques, 2004, High-level phylogeny of early Tertiary rodents: dental evidence, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 142 (1), pp. 105-134 : 113-114

Ctenodactylidae

Alagomydiae

The measures additionally performed on the simplified tree ( Fig. 4 ) reveal particularly clearly the effects of tree size on metrics, notably for RCI ( Table 2, Fig. 6A). By reducing substantially the number of terminal taxa (from 91 to 24), we reduce the amount of minimal cladistically implied gaps (artificial ghost ranges implied by a large phylogeny) to the part of the record represented by fossils, which maximizes evaluation of the completeness of the fossil record (RCI = 83.11; see Table 2). The MSM value remains relatively low (MSM = 0.22; Table 2) but significant at P = 0.001 ( Table 2, Fig. 6B), suggesting in other respects a rather reliable fit of the tree to the stratigraphic record (as substantiated by GER).

The measures performed on molecular patterns dealing with high-level phylogeny ( Nedbal et al., 1996; Adkins et al., 2001; DeBry & Sagel, 2001; Huchon et al., 2002; Montgelard et al., 2002) produced results not significantly better or worse than those based on fossils. For the molecular trees assessed, all cladograms have RCI values equal to, or greater than, 77%, and have significantly more than half their nodes showing stratigraphic consistency rather than inconsistency. These comparisons show that none of the molecular analyses consistently implies a better fossil record, or better cladistic resolution, than the others. In terms of the fit between phylogeny and stratigraphy, the results of our analyses show that most of the selected molecular studies have basically a similar fit of the tree to the stratigraphic record as fossils have ( Table 2, Fig. 6A). However, such fits between stratigraphic and molecular phylogenetic patterns are not statistically significant (0.04 ≤ P MSM ≤ 0.489; Table 2, Fig. 6B). Within the context of a search for an optimal rodent phylogeny, only the study of Huchon et al. (2002), based on extensive taxon sampling, and using three nuclear genes, has produced a high-level phylogeny to be compared and contrasted with our own because it displays the best and reasonably significant fit of the tree to the stratigraphic record.

Sciuroidea

Adkins et al. (2001)

Gliroidea

Huchon et al. (2002)

Figures

Figure 4. Simplified tree derived from the strict consensus presented in Fig. 2, showing the main dichotomies among higher taxonomic rodent groups only. The names in bold represent the extant rodent groups.