Fig. 11 in Re-Evaluation Of Morphological Characters Questions Current Views Of Pinniped Origins

Fig. 11. Wagner consensus tree of the hypothesized phylogenetic relationships among pinnipeds, generated by Winclada based Hennig86 using 12characters. Tree length 24 maximum steps or 15 minimum steps; consistency index, 0.80; retention index, 0.80. Character states are given in table 1. Diphyly of the pinnipeds proposes independent origin of otarioid (Pacific origin) and phocid (Atlantic origin) lineages from different terrestrial arctoid groups and supports strictly monophyletic clade of walruses, sea lions, and their fossil relatives, excluding phocids.