Dwarf males evolution

Morphological Studies within the Ptychomniales, with Emphasis on the Evolution of Dwarf Males... 

Tests of correlated evolution of dwarf males with the ranaining morphological features and the epiphytic habitat were conducted using Discrete (Pagel, 1999). This was accomplished by first fitting a model to the data in which the two characters were allowed to evolve independently. The likelihood of this model was then compared to the likelihood of a more complicated model in which the characters evolve in a correlated fashion, and a likelihood ratio was calculated between the dependent and the independent model to test if the more complicated model was a better fit to the data than was the model assuming independent evolntion. 

The evolution of dwarf males was significantly correlated with most of the morphological characters except seta length (Character 11), gemmae (13), endostome cilia (16), exostome development (17), and inner perichaetial leaf plication (18). In addition, there is no statistical support for correlated evolution of dwarf males with the epiphytic habit. The statistics of the correlation tests are presented in Table 18.4. 

Perhaps the most striking inference gained from the current study is that the evolution of dwarf males appears to be significantly correlated with several morphological traits. In addition, dorsal teeth are more likely to evolve when dwarf males are present whereas rugose leaves promote... 

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