Dear colleagues,

I am publishing a NEW BOOK integrating and discussing topics such as
those concerning the theory and practice of phylogenetics, general
macroevolution, or the origin and evolution of complex morphological
structures. I though it might eventually interest you, as aspects
concerning the history, definition and practical meaning of biological
concepts such as evolutionary parallelisms, convergences, homoplasies,
homologies, evolutionary trends, 'living fossils', as well as concepts
such as aptions, exaptions and adaptions,  are broadly discussed, are
broadly discussed. A particular effort was made in order to analyse
these concepts on the basis of an extensive empirical work, and to
discuss them in view of the the philosophical and theoretical framework
given particularly in Gould's last and voluminous book, the Structure of
Evolutionary Theory. The discussions are mainly based on a case study
provided by one of the most diverse group of vertebrates, either from a
taxonomic, an anatomical, a morphofunctional, an ethological, a
biogeographic, and an ecological point of view, the catfishes
(Teleostei, Siluriformes), as well as on a extensive survey of relevant
examples provided by a wide range of other teleost taxa and other
biological groups.

A brief presentation of the book, as well as a detailed Table of
contents, are provided below. The book is now in press and will be
available since October 2004. I thus suggest, for those interested in
the book, to send soon an email (as a new message, not as "reply to") to
both R.Diogo@student.ulg.ac.be and rajuprim@vsnl.com with 1) your full
name, 2) your postal address, and 3) your email address (please write
"NEW BOOK, DIOGO, 2004" on the subject of the email). This would make
things easier to both me and you, as thre are already many requests,
and, thus, on the one hand, this would allow me to make a record of
those among you that are eventually interested and thus to contact them
and to send them an order form, and, on the other hand, this would
therefore allow you to receive the book as soon as it will be available.


MORPHOLOGICAL EVOLUTION, APTATIONS, HOMOPLASIES, CONSTRAINTS AND
EVOLUTIONARY TRENDS: CATFISHES AS A CASE STUDY ON GENERAL PHYLOGENY AND
MACROEVOLUTION

By Rui Diogo (Laboratory of Functional and Evolutionary Morphology,
Univ. Liege, Belgium)

SCIENCE PUBLISHERS INC. (WWW.SCIPUB.NET) / ISBN 1-57808-291-9 / OCTOBER
2004 / C. 600 PAGES / US $ 122.00

Brief presentation of the book

Catfishes, or Siluriformes, with 35 families, about 437 genera and more
than 2700 species, represent about one-third of all freshwater fishes
and constitute one of the most diverse groups of Vertebrates. They have
a wide geographical distribution, being found in North, Central and
South America, Africa, Eurasia, South-East Asia, Japan and Australia,
with fossil catfishes even reported in Antarctica. Catfish are not only
remarkable in respect of their amazing taxonomic diversity and
biogeographic distribution, but also for their diversity in several
other respects such as anatomy, ethology, ecology or functional
morphology. It is precisely this amazing diversity and complexity that
provided the rationale to undertake this work: 1) the amazing diversity
and complexity of catfishes renders very difficult the study of this
group of fishes as a whole, in particular in what concerns their general
phylogeny and evolution; 2) at the same time, the amazing diversity and
complexity of this group, either from a taxonomic, an anatomical, a
morphofunctional, an ethological, a biogeographic, and an ecological
point of view, renders this group a very interesting case study on
macroevolution and phylogeny in general. One of the main aims of this
book is, thus, to help to clarify the higher-level interrelationships of
catfishes, an issue not only enormously interesting and impelling by
itself, but also with major implications on the study of the general
evolution of these fishes. Thus, after providing a short introduction to
the group and to the methodology and materials in chapters 1 and 2,
chapter 3 deals with a broad cladistic analysis of catfish higher-level
interrelationships based of a phylogenetic comparison of 440
morphological characters in 87 genera representing all extant catfish
families. This analysis includes some terminal taxa not included in
previous analyses and principally a large number of characters usually
excluded from those analyses, such as, for example, those concerning the
configuration of the cephalic and pectoral girdle musculature or the
structures associated with the mandibular barbels. The analysis gives
particular importance to complex, integrated structures, and will, thus,
pave the way for a discussion, given in chapter 4, on the evolution of
these complex structures within the whole order, as well as on catfish
evolution in general. Lastly, the results obtained and the examples
provided by the analysis of the phylogeny and evolutionary history of
the remarkably diverse and cosmopolitan Siluriformes allows to discuss,
in chapter 5, general, broader phylogenetic and macroevolutionary topics
such as, for example, primary and secondary homologies, mosaic
evolution, functional uncouplings, aptations, adaptations, exaptations,
parallelisms, convergences, constraints, speciation, living fossils,
evolutionary trends, or the relative contribution of myological and
osteological characters in phylogenetic reconstructions. A particular
effort was made in order to analyse and discuss the empirical results
obtained in the present work in view of the philosophical and
theoretical framework provided in Gould's last and voluminous book, the
Structure of Evolutionary Theory. 

Readership: students, teachers, ichthyologists and biologists working in
anatomy, functional morphology, phylogeny, biogeography, systematics or
biological evolution.

General contents of the book

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
- 1.1. Phylogenetic position within Teleostei
- 1.2. Catfish families
- 1.3. Historical overview of higher-level phylogeny of the catfishes
- 1.4. Catfish, an exceptional biological group

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY AND MATERIAL
- 2.1. Phylogenetic methodology
- 2.2. Delimitation of terminal taxa
- 2.3. Materials, techniques and nomenclature

CHAPTER 3: PHYLOGENETIC ANALYSIS
- 3.1. Character description and comparison
- 3.2. Cladistic analysis, diagnose for clades, and comparison with previous hypotheses
- 3.3. Character state changes for individual genera
- 3.4. Results of phylogenetic analysis: major outlines

CHAPTER 4: HIGHER-LEVEL  PHYLOGENY  AND   MACROEVOLUTION  OF  CATFISHES:  A  DISCUSSION
- 3.5. Structures associated with movements of the mandibular barbels
- 3.6. Pectoral girdle complex
- 3.7. Adductor mandibulae complex
- 3.8. Palatine-maxillary system
- 3.9. Suspensorium and associated structures
- 3.10. Elastic spring apparatus
- 3.11. A discussion on the origin and biogeographic distribution of catfishes

CHAPTER 5: CATFISHES,  CASE STUDY FOR GENERAL DISCUSSIONS ON PHYLOGENETIC AND MACROEVOLUTIONARY TOPICS
- 5.1. Primary homologies, secondary homologies, and a priori versus a posteriori explanations in evolutionary biology
- 5.2. Homoplasies, Consistency Index, and complexity of macroevolution
- 5.3. Functional uncouplings and morphological macroevolution
- 5.4. Myological versus osteological characters in phylogenetic reconstructions
- 5.5. Analysis of distinct anatomical regions in phylogenetic reconstructions and the coding of multistate characters
- 5.6. Aptations, exaptations and adaptations in macroevolutionary studies
- 5.7. Parallelisms, convergences and constraints in macroevolution
- 5.8. Cordelia's dillemma, historical bias, and general evolutionary trends
- 5.9. Punctuated equilibrium, speciation, living fossils and macroevolution


Dr. Rui Diogo

Laboratory of Functional and Evolutionary Morphology
Institut de Chimie, Bat. B6, University of Liege, B-4000 Liege, Belgium

Web- http://www.ulg.ac.be/morfonct/

Tel- 00 32 474940691

Email- Rui_Diogo@hotmail.com

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