Cladograms can reconstruct phylogenies: an example from the fossil record

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Abstract
A phylogenetic analysis of Recent and fossil species of the genus Amalda (Gastropoda) was undertaken. The resulting cladogram is compared with the phylogeny implied by stratigraphic evidence. The two phylogenies are in broad agreement, and both suggest that the subgenus Alocospira should be elevated to generic rank. The status of the subgenus Gracilispira is uncertain on both cladistic and stratigraphic grounds. Of the two remaining subgenera, only Baryspira is unequivocally monophyletic. Gemaspira and Baryspira are sister taxa in the cladistic analysis. However, stratigraphic evidence strongly suggests that Gemaspira is a paraphyletic group. The implied sister-group relationship is interpreted as resulting from coding procedures which assumed no transformation series between states of a multistate character. Clearly, stratigraphic evidence implies that the synapomorphies linking Baryspira spp. are transformations from (rather than being independent of) the synapomorphies linking Gemaspira spp. This underlines the importance of deducing the correct transformations linking multistate characters in attempting to reconstruct phylogenies. In this case the transformation series implied are counter-intuitive. It is concluded that cladistic analysis of morphological characters has the potential to reconstruct phylogenies provided the correct transformation series are known. These, it is argued, can be obtained through a study of the dynamics of form development.

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