Dictionary of Human Evolution and Biology

Dictionary of Human Evolution and Biology

Maximum Parsimony Hypothesis

Idea that the best reconstruction of ancestral character states is that which requires the fewest mutations in the proposed evolutionary tree to account for character states observed in living species. Aka maximum homology hypothesis.

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maximum parsimony problem (Unsolved portion of the maximum parsimony hypothesis having to do with ancestor reconstruction ...)
Camin-Sokal hypothesis (Special case of the maximum parsimony hypothesis, which states that back mutations to prior ...)
branch swapping algorithm (... PAUP and PHYLIP. Cf. maximum parsimony hypothesis.)
hypotheses (... homology hypothesis, the uniform convergence hypothesis, and the uniform rate hypothesis.)
maximum homology hypothesis (... ancestry. Aka red king hypothesis.)