Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Phylogenetic Trees

Phylogenetic Trees

Phylogenetic trees come in many forms. It matters in which sequence the organisms are arranged from the bottom to the top of the tree, but the branches can rotate at their nodes without altering the information. The lines connecting individual nodes can be straight, angled, or even curved.

Phylogeny

Phylogeny

Phylogeny is concerned with the evolutionary diversification of organisms or groups of organisms. A group of organisms with a name is called a taxon (singular). Taxa (plural) can span different levels of the evolutionary hierarchy. For instance, the group containing all birds is a taxon (comprising the class Aves), and the group of all species of daisies (the genus Bellis) is a taxon. Phylogenies can likewise include just one genus (i.e., depict species relationships) or span an entire kingdom.

The Tree of Life - Bacteria, Archaea, Eukaryotes

The Tree of Life - Bacteria, Archaea, Eukaryotes

The “tree of life” describes the evolution of life and the evolutionary relationships between organisms. The root of the tree is the common ancestor to all life on Earth. All other species radiate from this point, much like the branches of a tree. The numerous tips of these branches on the tree of life represent every living, or extant, species. Extinct species, which are species that no longer exist, can be found towards the center of the tree. Currently, these organisms, both...

Evolutionary Relationships through Genome Comparisons

Evolutionary Relationships through Genome Comparisons

Genome comparison is one of the excellent ways to interpret the evolutionary relationships between organisms. The basic principle of genome comparison is that if two species share a common feature, it is likely encoded by the DNA sequence conserved between both species. The advent of genome sequencing technologies in the late 20th century enabled scientists to understand the concept of conservation of domains between species and helped them to deduce evolutionary relationships across diverse...

Synteny and Evolution

Synteny and Evolution

John H. Renwick first coined the term “synteny” in 1971, which refers to the genes present on the same chromosomes, even if they are not genetically linked. The species with common ancestry tend to show conserved syntenic regions. Therefore, the concept of synteny is nowadays used to describe the evolutionary relationship between species.
Around 80 million years ago, the human and mice lineages diverged from the common ancestor. During the course of evolution, the ancestral...

Taxonomy

Taxonomy

Taxonomy is the science of defining and naming groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. It uses a hierarchy of increasingly inclusive categories with Latin names. The smallest units of taxonomy, species and genus, are used to assign a formal, taxonomic name to each species in a system. This classification system, referred to as binomial nomenclature, was formalized by Carolus Linnaeus in the 18th century.
Hierarchy of Taxonomy
The hierarchy that Carolus Linnaeus first...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Influence of Vegetation Structure on Lemur Recolonization of Post-Fire Habitats in Northwestern Madagascar.

American journal of primatology·2026

Same author

Divergent poxvirus identified in a non-native black rat from Madagascar.

Virology·2026

Same author

Lemur Distribution in Relation to Treefall Canopy Gaps in Masoala National Park, Northeast Madagascar.

American journal of primatology·2026

Same author

Rapid centromere turnover and the adaptive radiation of lemurs.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026

Same author

Corrigendum to "Exact calculation of the expected SFS in structured populations" [Theoretical Population Biology Volume 163(2025) 50-61].

Theoretical population biology·2026

Same author

One-step, two-step: Whole-genome-duplication pathways in Artemisia tridentata and potential consequences for genome evolution.

American journal of botany·2026

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 11, 2025

Using Phylogenetic Analysis to Investigate Eukaryotic Gene Origin

Using Phylogenetic Analysis to Investigate Eukaryotic Gene Origin

Published on: August 14, 2018

Integrative taxonomy clarifies the evolution of a cryptic primate clade.

Tobias van Elst¹, Gabriele M Sgarlata^2,3, Dominik Schüßler⁴

¹Institute of Zoology, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hannover, Germany. tob.velst@posteo.de.

Nature Ecology & Evolution

|September 27, 2024

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Madagascar

More Related Videos

A Practical Guide to Phylogenetics for Nonexperts

A Practical Guide to Phylogenetics for Nonexperts

Published on: February 5, 2014

Reverse Dissection and DiceCT Reveal Otherwise Hidden Data in the Evolution of the Primate Face

Reverse Dissection and DiceCT Reveal Otherwise Hidden Data in the Evolution of the Primate Face

Published on: January 7, 2019

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 11, 2025

Using Phylogenetic Analysis to Investigate Eukaryotic Gene Origin

Using Phylogenetic Analysis to Investigate Eukaryotic Gene Origin

Published on: August 14, 2018

A Practical Guide to Phylogenetics for Nonexperts

A Practical Guide to Phylogenetics for Nonexperts

Published on: February 5, 2014

Reverse Dissection and DiceCT Reveal Otherwise Hidden Data in the Evolution of the Primate Face

Reverse Dissection and DiceCT Reveal Otherwise Hidden Data in the Evolution of the Primate Face

Published on: January 7, 2019

Area of Science:

Biodiversity research
Evolutionary biology
Conservation science

Background:

Global biodiversity faces accelerating threats, with many species going extinct before scientific description.
Madagascar's endemic biodiversity is particularly vulnerable and often cryptic, complicating conservation efforts.
Accurate species delimitation is crucial for understanding evolutionary processes and informing conservation strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

To present an integrative framework for clarifying cryptic diversification processes using multiple lines of evidence.
To apply this framework to the taxonomically controversial mouse lemur (Microcebus) clade in Madagascar.
To revise species limits within mouse lemurs and identify new conservation priorities.

Main Methods:

Developed an integrative framework for species delimitation, emphasizing taxon-informed cut-offs and isolation by distance.
Systematically applied the framework to the mouse lemur genus (Microcebus).
Utilized multiple lines of evidence to assess species diversity and evolutionary patterns.

Main Results:

Demonstrated that species diversity in mouse lemurs has been overestimated, with geographic variation often misinterpreted as speciation.
Following a revised classification, found that crypsis is explained by morphological stasis and neutral niche diversification.
Clarified species limits and defined evolutionarily significant units within the genus.

Conclusions:

The proposed framework effectively clarifies cryptic diversification and improves species delimitation.
Revised mouse lemur classification highlights the importance of accurate species identification for evolutionary inference.
Provides a generalizable approach to setting conservation priorities for threatened and cryptic biodiversity.