In this volume, eleven leading systematists provide an overview of recent advances and controversies in morphological phylogenetics. They summarize new methodological developments—including approaches for analyzing ontogenetic data, fossils, morphometric characters, intraspecific variation, and hybrid taxa—and review published studies to evaluate how morphological phylogenetics has actually been practiced. They also discuss the relationship between morphological and molecular systematics, and address the controversial use of morphology-based phylogenies to study the evolution of morphological characters.

This volume is the first dedicated to morphological phylogenetics. It will be a valuable synthesis for all phylogenetic biologists, including molecular and morphological systematists, paleontologists and neontologists, and botanists and zoologists.