Uncovering the relationships among herring-like fossils (Clupei: Teleostei): a phylogenetic analysis

README: This dataset contains X-rays of extant Clupei fishes. It is associated to the publication by Kevrekidis et al. "Uncovering the relationships among herring-like fossils (Clupei: Teleostei): a phylogenetic analysis" by the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. Please remember to cite this publication if you use this material for your research. The specimens are from the collection of the SNSB-ZSM (Munich, Germany), made at the facilities of the same institution with a Faxitron UltraFocus. The files are in .bpm and .dcm format; whenever any of these files were not available, a .tif file is included instead. The .dcm files can be viewed with appropriate software, e.g. the freeware InVesalius (https://invesalius.github.io/), where their brightness and contrast can be adapted accordingly. The material, together with the collection site, is listed at the appendix (Table A1) of the associated publication. If you have further questions, please contact Charalampos Kevrekidis at xaralamboskevrekidis@yahoo.gr.Abstract: Research interest in the diversity and evolutionary history of herring-like fossils (subcohort Clupei) has increased in recent decades. However, little is known about the relationships between fossils assigned to Clupei, particularly those that are demonstrably related to extant herring-like members of the order Clupeiformes. To help bridge this gap, we present a new morphological phylogeny that includes representatives of all major clupeiform lineages. The data matrix consists of 192 characters, drawn from 79 extant and 37 fossil taxa and selected to be readily identifiable in fossils. Most clupeiform families are recovered as monophyletic, and their interrelationships are generally compatible with previous morphological hypotheses. The phylogenetic positions of six fossil clupeiform taxa are resolved, as the results of all analyses (unconstrained/constrained parsimony and Bayesian inference) are consistent. Twenty-one fossil taxa are incertae sedis, including two species of Ellimmichtyiformes, which are recovered as Clupeoidei in the parsimony analyses. The relationships of the rest of the fossils are interpreted with varying degrees of certainty. The evolution of key morphological characters is discussed in light of the new results, and four fossil taxa are proposed as calibration points for future dating studies.