Syst. Biol. 54(2):317–337, 2005 Copyright c Society of Systematic Biologists ! ISSN: 1063-5157 print / 1076-836X online DOI: 10.1080/10635150590923326 Molecular Phylogeny of the Carnivora (Mammalia): Assessing the Impact of Increased Sampling on Resolving Enigmatic Relationships JOHN J. FLYNN,1,2,4 JOHN A. FINARELLI,2,1 SARAH ZEHR,1 JOHNNY HSU,3,1 AND MICHAEL A. NEDBAL1,5 1Department of Geology, The Field Museum, 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605, USA; E-mail: jfl
[email protected] (J.J.F.) 2Committee on Evolutionary Biology, The University of Chicago, 1025 E. 57th Street, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA 3Biological Sciences Collegiate Division, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA 4Current Address: Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024, USA 5Current Address: P.O. Box 637, Maple Valley, Washington 98038, USA Abstract.—This study analyzed 76 species of Carnivora using a concatenated sequence of 6243 bp from six genes (nuclear TR-i-I, TBG, and IRBP; mitochondrial ND2, CYTB, and 12S rRNA), representing the most comprehensive sampling yet undertaken for reconstructing the phylogeny of this clade. Maximum parsimony and Bayesian methods were remarkably congruent in topologies observed and in nodal support measures. We recovered all of the higher level carnivoran clades that had been robustly supported in previous analyses (by analyses of morphological and molecular data), including the monophyly of Caniformia, Feliformia, Arctoidea, Pinnipedia, Musteloidea, Procyonidae Mustelidae sensu stricto, and a clade of (Hyaenidae (Herpestidae Malagasy carnivorans)). All of the traditional “families,”+ with the exception of Viver- ridae and Mustelidae,+ were robustly+ supported as monophyletic groups.