Bias in Phylogenetic Estimation and Its Relevance to the Choice between Parsimony and Likelihood Methods

Abstract

DAVID L. SWOFFORD,1,6 PETER J. WADDELL,2 JOHN P. HUELSENBECK,3 PETER G. FOSTER,1,7 PAUL O. LEWIS,4 AND JAMES S. ROGERS5 Laboratory of Molecular Systematics, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution Museum Support Center, 4210 Silver Hill Road, Suitland, Maryland 20746, USA; E-mail: swofford@lms.si.edu Institute of Molecular BioSciences, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand; E-mail: waddell@onyx.si.edu Department of Biology, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627, USA; E-mail: johnh@brahms.biology.rochester.edu Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, The University of Connecticut, U-43, 75 N. Eagleville Road, Storrs, Connecticut 06269-30437 , USA; E-mail: plewis@uconnvm.uconn.edu Department of Biological Sciences, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana 70148, USA; E-mail: jsrogers@uno.edu