Numerical Cladistic Analysis of Phylogenetic Relationships in Plecoptera

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Abstract
This paper consists of a reassessment of phylogenetic relationships in Plecoptera using Zwick's (1980) character data. The data matrix (22 taxa by 113 characters) was analyzed using the WAGNER option of the PHYLIP computer program. Six equally parsimonious minimum-length Wagner networks are discerned and rooted to form six Wagner trees. Incongruities among the Wagner trees must await resolution through the acquisition of additional characters. The computed Wagner trees are more parsimonious than the existing phylogenies of Ricker (1952), lilies (1965), Zwick (1980), and Brodskiy (1982). I show that the phylogenies of Zwick and Brodskiy are more congruent with the computer-generated Wagner trees than are those of Ricker and lilies. However, the analyses of the latter two workers are in accord with the Wagner trees in depicting the Eusthenioidea as the sister group to that taxon comprising the Gripopteryoidea, Scopuridae, Nemouroidea, and Systellognatha.