The phylogeny of the Gasterosteidae: Combining behavioral and morphological data sets

Genealogical relationships among the five genera of stickleback (Gasteroste idae: Smegmomorpha) fishes were reconstructed based upon 47 behavioral and 89 morphological characters. Phylogenetic systematic analysis of the combin ed data set produced a single MPT (consistency index of 82.54%) structured (Spinachia(Apeltes-((Pungitius + Culaea)(Gasterosteus aculeatus + G. wheatl andi)))). When analyzed separately both behavioral and morphological data s ets produced the same tree topology, although the consistency index (exclud ing uninformative characters) was higher for the behavioral (90.70%) than f or the morphological (68.13%) characters. This total evidence analysis prov ides a highly robust estimate of phylogeny for the sticklebacks and reitera tes the importance of discarding a priori biases about behavioral evolution when selecting characters for phylogenetic analysis. (C) 2001 The Willi He nnig Society.