Reconstructing character state trees: An example based on louse head shape

VINCENT S. SMITH

Division of Environmental and Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Biomedical and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, Scotland, United Kingdom.

Corresponding Author: Vince Smith
e-mail: v.smith@nhm.ac.uk

Current Status: Unpublished

Abstract

The development of multistate characters is three-step process of delimiting character states, establishing the relationship between those states and polarising the character state tree. These issues are explored in the development of a multistate character to describe louse head shape. Character states based on an elliptic Fourier analysis of head shape for 69 taxa of nymphal and adult ischnoceran lice were delimited using UPGMA cluster analysis. Nine character states were resolved and a character state network inferred directly from the minimum spanning tree. Frequencies of ontogenetic transformations of the head for 38 taxa were used to derive a character state network. These were compared with the character state relationships when mapped on to a cladogram. Comparison of the associations inferred by these different methods suggests that the ontogenetic transformations between character states broadly parallel the phylogenetic transformations observed on the cladogram. In contrast, transformations based on head shape similarity poorly reflect the phylogenetic transformations.

---

Reprint

This is available to download as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file. To view these you need Adobe Acrobat, which is available for Macs, PCs, and Unix from here. With version 3.0 you can view PDF files from within your Web browser.

(PDF 1.76MB) Smith, V. S. (In prep.) Reconstructing character state trees: An example based on louse head shape. Unpublished.

---

Head Shape Source Data

Source data used during the analyses is available for download below. These are stored as zipped files. When uncompressed, each zipped file contains 227 individual files corresponding to each head shape. Their file name has a four figure prefix the key to which can be downloaded as a tab delimited text file from here.

Source Images

Original images of the louse heads use during this project can be downloaded from here. These images are stored in JPEG format and due to their large size have been divided into five separate files. (Images 1-50.zip), (Images 51-100.zip), (Images 101-150.zip), (Images 151-200.zip) and (Images 201-227.zip). The resolution of these files is low (usually 720x576) and should be used in conjunction with the (X-Y) co-ordinate files and Windows metafiles available below.

X-Y Co-ordinates

X-Y co-ordinates saved in TPS format can be downloaded from here. These can be imported in programs like EFAWin available from the Morphometrics web site at SUNY Stony Brook. Further details on importing these files into EFAWin are available from here.

Windows Metafiles

Windows metafiles for each head shape can be downloaded from here. These can be imported in into most standard office software and reveal an outline of each head shape.

---

Conversion Files

A series of small windows program created by Rod Page were written to convert files between the different programs used during these analyses. These programs, their source code and instructions from their use are available from here.

---

Analysis Programs

In addition to the file conversion utilities mentioned above, the programs tipsDig by F. J. Rohlf, and EFAWin by Mike Isaev were used in the analyses. These programs are available from the SUNY Stony Brooks Morphometrics server.