Cladistic Methods in Paleozoic Continental Reconstruction

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Abstract
Cladistics is a method of hierarchical analysis in which a branching diagram or cladogram is used to group entities as nested sets based on special shared similarities. An area cladogram can summarize in a precise way the hypothesized history of interconnections between areas. The utility of this method in Paleozoic paleogeography is explored by representing as cladograms some current hypotheses aobut the interconnections between Gondwana and Euramerica during the Middle Paleozoic. Only one aspect of paleogeographic reconstruction (fragmentation or fusion sequences) can be represented on an area cladogram, but establishing the chronological sequence of significant events is central to any historical science. Preliminary component analysis of six different cladograms for six areas shows no component common to all the cladograms, and therefore no specific aspect on which all six hypotheses agree. Area cladograms summarizing geological and geophysical data are required for cladistic vicariance analysis in biogeography, for which traditional map reconstructions are inadequate. Area cladograms are also useful in making paleogeographic hypotheses explicit, for exposure to criticism and refutation.

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