ArticleBiology letters2016
Partially incorrect fossil data augment analyses of discrete trait evolution in living species.
Article in Biology letters, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed.
- Fossil record biases skew inferences of mammal trait evolution.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Resolving competing evolutionary histories in joint ancestral state reconstruction.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Practical Guide and Review of Fossil Tip-Dating in Phylogenetics.Systematic biology · 2026Review
- Uncertainty in joint Ancestral State Reconstruction: Improving accuracy and biological interpretability of ancestral state prediction.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Bioluminescence and repeated deep-sea colonization shaped the diversification and body size evolution of squaliform sharks.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Fossils improve extinction-rate estimates under state-dependent diversification models.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Toward a Comprehensive Anatomical Matrix for Crown Birds: Phylogenetic Insights from the Pectoral Girdle and Forelimb Skeleton.Integrative organismal biology (Oxford, England) · 2025Article
- Turtle body size evolution is determined by lineage-specific specializations rather than global trends.Ecology and evolution · 2023Article
- The diverse terminology of reptile eggshell microstructure and its effect on phylogenetic comparative analyses.Journal of anatomy · 2022Review
- Extant species fail to estimate ancestral geographical ranges at older nodes in primate phylogeny.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Article
- Article
- Fossils improve phylogenetic analyses of morphological characters.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2021Article
- Early Arrival and Climatically-Linked Geographic Expansion of New World Monkeys from Tiny African Ancestors.Systematic biology · 2019Article
- Partially incorrect fossil data augment analyses of discrete trait evolution in living species.Biology letters · 2016Article
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1 author.
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Abstract
Ancestral state reconstruction of discrete character traits is often vital when attempting to understand the origins and homology of traits in living species. The addition of fossils has been shown to alter our understanding of trait evolution in extant taxa, but researchers may avoid using fossils alongside extant species if only few are known, or if the designation of the trait of interest is uncertain. Here, I investigate the impacts of fossils and incorrectly coded fossils in the ancestral state reconstruction of discrete morphological characters under a likelihood model. Under simulated phylogenies and data, likelihood-based models are generally accurate when estimating ancestral node values. Analyses with combined fossil and extant data always outperform analyses with extant species alone, even when around one quarter of the fossil information is incorrect. These results are especially pronounced when model assumptions are violated, such as when there is a trend away from the root value. Fossil data are of particular importance when attempting to estimate the root node character state. Attempts should be made to include fossils in analysis of discrete traits under likelihood, even if there is uncertainty in the fossil trait data.
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