The Phylogeny of the Diploporita: A Polyphyletic Assemblage of Blastozoan Echinoderms
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-2019
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1017/jpa.2019.2
Abstract
The phylogenetic relationships of Paleozoic blastozoan echinoderms are poorly understood and many of the traditionally ascribed groups are likely polyphyletic. Diploporitans, those blastozoans with double pore (diplopore) respiratory structures, have never been placed within a rigorous phylogenetic framework, and their highly variable morphologies suggest that they do not represent a natural clade. A maximum parsimony phylogenetic analysis, spanning a wide range of diploporitan and related taxa, indicates that diplopore-bearing blastozoans are a polyphyletic grouping and, consequently, that diplopore respiratory structures have evolved more than once within the echinoderms. Constraint analyses indicate that a single diplopore-bearing clade bearing the traditionally defined Glyptosphaeritida, Sphaeronitida, Asteroblastida is less parsimonious than multiple diplopore-bearing clades inferred by the unconstrained analysis.
Was this content written or created while at USF?
Yes
Citation / Publisher Attribution
Journal of Paleontology, in press, 13 p.
Scholar Commons Citation
Sheffield, Sarah L. and Sumrall, Colin D., "The Phylogeny of the Diploporita: A Polyphyletic Assemblage of Blastozoan Echinoderms" (2019). School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications. 1241.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/geo_facpub/1241
