Welcome to the 31st IUBS General Assembly and Conference on ...

<strong>and</strong> early birds, more comprehensive analyses of <strong>the</strong>
phylogenetic framework of <strong>the</strong> transition from non‐avian
dinosaurs <strong>to</strong> birds, <strong>and</strong> analyses of developmental <strong>and</strong>
physiological data from extant archosaurs <strong>to</strong> underst<strong>and</strong>
<strong>the</strong> evolution of major avian character systems. Here I
highlight two issues: 1) <strong>the</strong> origin <strong>and</strong> early evolution of
fea<strong>the</strong>rs <strong>and</strong> 2) <strong>the</strong> evolution of avian wings. Recent
paleon<strong>to</strong>logical <strong>and</strong> neon<strong>to</strong>logical studies on fea<strong>the</strong>rs <strong>and</strong>
fea<strong>the</strong>r‐like integumentary structures demonstrate that
<strong>the</strong> defining features of modern fea<strong>the</strong>rs could have
evolved in an incremental ra<strong>the</strong>r than a sudden manner,
an evolutionary model characterized by successive small
evolutionary changes. The evolution of <strong>the</strong> avian wing is a
problem that has attracted <strong>the</strong> interest of both
paleon<strong>to</strong>logists <strong>and</strong> neon<strong>to</strong>logists. Available lines of
evidence, <strong>and</strong> particularly <strong>the</strong> recently collected
developmental data, provide strong support for <strong>the</strong>
occurrence of homeotic changes in <strong>the</strong> development of
<strong>the</strong> neornithine h<strong>and</strong>. However, a close examination of <strong>the</strong>
manual morphology of extinct <strong>the</strong>ropods, in combination
with some developmental data from neornithines, calls
in<strong>to</strong> question <strong>the</strong> occurrence of a complete ‘frameshift’
event as has sometimes been proposed. Instead, <strong>the</strong>
hypo<strong>the</strong>sis of a partial, piecemeal frameshift can better
explain <strong>the</strong> available data regarding morphological change
along <strong>the</strong> line <strong>to</strong> birds in <strong>the</strong>ropod evolution.
Phylogenomic analyses support <strong>the</strong> Glires
hypo<strong>the</strong>sis but reject <strong>the</strong> Euarchonta
hypo<strong>the</strong>sis
group. Phylogenetic <strong>and</strong> likelihood analyses strongly
supported <strong>the</strong> Glires hypo<strong>the</strong>sis, namely <strong>the</strong> grouping
of Rodentia with Lagomorpha (rabbits, hares, <strong>and</strong>
pikas). However, indicated was that tree shrews are a
sister group <strong>to</strong> Glires ra<strong>the</strong>r than <strong>to</strong> Primates, or a basal
clade within Euarchon<strong>to</strong>glires. Additional analyses of
both new <strong>and</strong> previously published data confirmed
<strong>the</strong>se results, <strong>and</strong> supported <strong>the</strong> positioning of
Dermoptera (flying lemurs) as <strong>the</strong> closest relative of
primates. This was fur<strong>the</strong>r evidenced by <strong>the</strong>
observation that 2 of 3 exonic indels used previously <strong>to</strong>
support <strong>the</strong> monophyly of Euarchonta were invalid.
Conclusions: Therefore, Euarchonta <strong>and</strong> Sunda<strong>the</strong>ria
(Dermoptera + Sc<strong>and</strong>entia) may not be natural groups.
To depict more clearly <strong>the</strong> independent status of
Sc<strong>and</strong>entia, Prima<strong>to</strong>morpha <strong>and</strong> Glires, we proposed
<strong>the</strong> replacement of <strong>the</strong> name Euarchon<strong>to</strong>glires by
Scaprima<strong>to</strong>glires. Relaxed molecular clock <strong>and</strong>
diversification rate analyses suggested that
Scaprima<strong>to</strong>glires experienced a rapid diversification,
<strong>and</strong> that Glires, Sc<strong>and</strong>entia <strong>and</strong> Prima<strong>to</strong>morpha may
have diverged almost simultaneously.
Phylogenetic <strong>and</strong> environmental aspects of
early seed plant radiation
Jason HILTON
Earth Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbas<strong>to</strong>n,
Birmingham B15 2TT, UK. Email: j.m.hil<strong>to</strong>n@bham.ac.uk
Xuming ZHOU
Institute of Zoology, CAS, Beijing 100101, China. Email:
xmzhou0103@163.com
Background: The presently well accepted Euarchonta is a
pruned version of Archonta <strong>and</strong> grouped many placental
mammals including tree shrews (Sc<strong>and</strong>entia), flying
lemurs (Dermoptera), <strong>and</strong> primates (Primates) within
Euarchon<strong>to</strong>glires (or Supraprimates). However, both
relationships within Euarchon<strong>to</strong>glires <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong>
Euarchonta hypo<strong>the</strong>sis are in controversy <strong>and</strong> need <strong>to</strong> be
validated.
Results: Here, a phylogenomic dataset containing 1910
exons from 22 representative mammals was compiled <strong>to</strong>
investigate <strong>the</strong> phylogenetic relationships within this
Present day seed plants dominate most terrestrial floras
<strong>and</strong> form <strong>the</strong> basis of plant resources. Current evidence
shows that <strong>the</strong>y originated approximately 363 million
years ago at <strong>the</strong> end of <strong>the</strong> Devonian period <strong>and</strong>
continued <strong>the</strong>ir primary radiation through <strong>the</strong>
Carboniferous. This talk will consider <strong>the</strong> early
evolutionary his<strong>to</strong>ry of seed plants that provides <strong>the</strong>
underlying backbone <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir systematic relationships,
<strong>and</strong> will emphasize <strong>the</strong> importance of whole‐plant
reconstructions in underst<strong>and</strong>ing systematic
relationships between different seed plant groups. The
question of how much of <strong>the</strong> whole‐plant is required
will be addressed using recently constructed datasets
from which it is increasingly apparent that partial
reconstructions of species with fundamentally different
bauplans may significantly alter our underst<strong>and</strong>ing of
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