Tod W. Reeder studies evolutionary relationships within Squamata. In a 2015 study, he and collaborators combined 691 morphological characters with sequences from 46 genes to examine relationships among living and fossil taxa. The analysis explicitly tested conflicts between anatomical and molecular evidence.[ref]
Integrated Analyses Resolve Conflicts over Squamate Reptile Phylogeny and Reveal Unexpected Placements for Fossil Taxa by Tod W. Reeder and others. Abstract and Methods: combined morphological and molecular matrix
A fossil often preserves anatomical characters but no usable DNA. Combining evidence lets such a taxon be included in phylogenetics alongside living relatives with molecular data. The contribution illustrates why additional characters can change a fossil's inferred position: a family tree is an inference from a specified dataset and model.
Portrait of Tod W. Reeder
. Identified San Diego State University faculty portrait, captioned Closeup of Tod Reeder. Source. New to topics? Read the docs here!