Early Actinopterygian Cladogram

This character matrix was used for the Lund & Poplin 2002 paper on relationships of the Tarrasiiformes. As with all such studies, this matrix and the resultant cladograms will change with increased input of fish and information.

Character matrix
No.	Character	State 0	State 1	State 2	State 3	State 4	State 5
0	Body form	fusiform/ elongate	high dorsum	round	angulated
1	Highest/lowest points of	no specializations	ridge scutes	few specialized
2	Mouth	subterminal	terminal
4	Premaxillary position	in midline	lateral	absent as distinct
5	Premaxillary condition	sutured	loose	pmax field fused to	absent as distinct
6	Rostral	separate bone or	fused to	fused to premaxilla	fused to pmx &	absent as
7	Ethmoid commissure	across midline	not across	absent
8	Postrostrals	several median	single median	paired	median & paired	absent as
9	Antorbital presence	absent as distinct	differentiated	fused	fused to pmax
10	Antorbital shape	absent as distinct	rhombic	inverted L	vertical pillar
11	Rostral notch	absent	vertical	keyhole-shape
12	Nasals	serial	single bone
13	Supraorbitals	absent	single series	double series
14	Tectals	present	absent
15	Frontals	one pair	two pairs
16	Parietal/frontal ratio	subequal	much smaller	much larger parietal
17	Otic canal bones	dermosphenotic	dermopterotic	3 bones
18	Infraorbital canal	to	to dermopterotic	to fused dpt-parietal	to frontal
19	Dsphenotic/nasal	absent	present
20	Supraoccipital	absent	only on braincase	on skull roof
21	Supratemporal	across midline	not across	loop to skull roof
22	Extrascapulars bearing	1 pair	2 pairs	absent	three bones
23	Extrascapular rows	1 row	absent	two rows
24	Posteroventral IO is	2nd	first	3rd	>3rd
25	Posterodorsal IO is	3rd	4th	5th	6th	>6th	2nd
26	Posterodorsal IO shape	simple	T-shaped	rev-L shaped
27	Suborbital numbers	none	two-five large, 1	more than one row	large one with	mosaic
28	Suborbital fit	absent	sutured/overlap	loose, gaps
29	Suborbital thickness	absent	thick	thin, no ganoine
30	Suborbital position	Not between	between max &	no max-infraorb
31	Maxilla length	posterior to orbit	orbital	preorbital	absent
32	Maxilla posterior plate	absent	moderate	high rounded	high triangle	narrow
33	Maxilla mandibular	absent	rear of mandible	most of mandible
34	Maxilla posteroventral	absent	not projecting	projecting
35	Mandible dentary	less than 40%	greater than 60%
36	Mandible coronoid	absent	present
37	Marginal teeth	vertical	forward	absent
38	Dentition	marginal	marginal- palatal	phyllodont	restricted to front
39	Preopercular bone	2 subequal bones	1 bone	big dorsal- small
40	Dorsal	squamosal	tall, narrow	"hatchet-shape"	vertically
41	Preopercular canal	to mid-otic	to postorbital	to postotic region	ends blindly in
43	Vertical preopercular pit	short on	on POP , long	absent
44	Jugal line	complete	pit line on	absent
45	Dermohyal	absent	one	two	vertical series
46	Anteoperculum	absent	one behind	one below	series
47	Suboperculum	shorter than	taller than	obscure/ absent as
48	Anterior branchiostegals	numerous	absent below
49	Posterior	uniform	short behind	complex	absent
50	Extralateral gular	absent	present
51	Gular, median	present	absent
52	Gular, lateral	like	absent	extended
53	Clavicle	present	rudimentary	absent
54	Postspiraculars	absent	present
55	Presupracleithrum	present	absent
56	Sclerotics	many	3 to 4	2	absent
57	Parasphenoid	short	length of
58	Suspensorium	met-autostyly	limited	extensive
59	Dorsal fin number	two	one
60	First dorsal base	basal plate	absent
61	First dorsal positon	forward	posterior	absent
62	2nd dorsal / anal fin	dorsal anterior to	dorsal above anal	dorsal behind anal
63	2nd dorsal / anal fin	tightly packed	rear rays spaced	all rays spaced
64	2nd dorsal fin length	short	slight extension	rear close to caudal	merged with
65	2nd dorsal fin shape	triangular	sigmoidal	long, acuminate	very high & long	long, low
66	2nd dorsal fin base	no specializations	scaled lobe	guard scales	basal plate & axis
67	Pectoral fin base	basal plate	serial radials	extended
68	Pectoral scaled lobe	absent	present
69	Pelvic fin	normal	reduced or absent	elongate
70	Caudal axis	heterocercal	hemiheterocercal	diphycercal
71	Caudal outline	cleft equilobate	strongly	rounded	pointed
73	Anal fin base	basal plate	serial infrahemal-
74	Anal fin base length	short	anal end close to	merged with
75	Caudal fin rays	not webbed	webbed
760	Scale type	rhombic ganoid	cycloid
77	Scale row inversion	progressive	abrupt	absent
78	Fin fulcrae	absent	present
79	Flank scales	same size as	very tall	tall, cristate
80	Ventrolateral flank	same prop as	very narrow

References

Lund, R., and C. Poplin. 2002. "Cladistic analysis of the relationships of the Tarrasiids (Lower Carboniferous Actinopterygians)." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 22: 480-486

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