title: Probing the relationships of the branchiopod crustaceans.
abstract: The Branchiopoda display extraordinary variation in body form, even within the morphologically diverse crustaceans. To fully understand the origin and evolution of these morphological reconfigurations, a robust phylogeny of the group is essential. To infer the affinities among branchiopods, we employed two approaches to taxon and gene sampling, presented new sequence data from three genes, incorporated previously published sequence data from three additional genes, and utilized comprehensive techniques of phylogeny reconstruction. The results provided support for a number of longstanding hypotheses concerning the relationships among the orders. For example, we obtained support for the Cladoceromorpha and Gymnomera, and favoured a unique arrangement of the cladoceran orders. A few affinities remain to be resolved, particularly at the base of the Phyllopoda and within the Anomopoda. However, the results suggest that increased gene sampling is recommended for future investigations of branchiopod systematics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ont., Canada N1G 2W1. jdewaard@uoguelph.ca
authors.forename: Jeremy R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: deWaard
authors.forename: Veronika
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sacherova
authors.forename: Melania E A
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Cristescu
authors.forename: Elpidio A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Remigio
authors.forename: Teresa J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Crease
authors.forename: Paul D N
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Hebert
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000235:genetics; D003445:Crustacea / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D014644:Genetic Variation; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D017354:Point Mutation; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S / Q000235:genetics*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV