While this conflict between morphological and molecular characters can be readily accounted for by the morphological reductionism resulting from the parasitic lifestyle of Buddenbrockia, no such accounting can explain the suite of morphological characters shared among Platyhelminthes [2].
However, no genetic evidence for such a mutation has been found [47], and most of the morphological characters shared by Antliophora and Mecopterida, in which Halteria would reside, are inapplicable or absent in Strepsiptera [28], [29], [37], [44], [46], [48], [49].
This alternative phylogenetic hypothesis, if true, would necessitate reinterpretation of morphological characters shared by anthozoans as symplesiomorphies (retained from the common ancestor) rather than synapomorphies.
comm)., and the re-examination of existing morphological characters shared by strepsipterans and beetles [ 7], we anticipate that the phylogenetic placement of Strepsiptera will cease to be considered the most controversial issue in holometabolan phylogenetics.
The discrepancies in character optimizations between the trees obtained from constrained and unconstrained parsimony analyses underscore the importance of resolving the phylogenetic positions of Platanista and Lipotes for understanding the evolution of morphological characters shared by these two taxa.
The sister-group relationship between Calceolariaceae and Gesneriaceae is further confirmed by two morphological characters shared by these families (see Figure 4): (i) the thyrsic inflorescence with pair flowered cymes, and (ii) aulacospermous alveolated seeds [ 102].
Synapomorphies are (morphological, molecular, or behavioral) characters shared by a group of taxa due to their inheritance from a common ancestor.
Both are fairly basal among Charadrii; thus, it is possible that the morphological characters they share are merely symplesiomorphies.
Not surprisingly, all morphological character states shared by river dolphins cannot be simply described as convergences, reversals, or symplesiomorphies.
Morphological characters were optimized onto trees by parsimony to diagnose clades and to track the evolution of characters shared by extant river dolphins and Pontoporia.
Rollinschaeta myoplena possesses a suite of morphological characters that are shared with Amphinomida.
