Question

Table 1 Physical and behavioural traits of the Dragons Asian Lung (Draco orientalis), European (Draco occidentalis magnus), Frost (Draco occidentalis maritimus), Knucker (Draco troglodytes), Tibetan (Draco montana) and Lindworm (Draco serpentalis) from Drake (2003) and the Common Dragon (Draco originem). Traits Common Dragon (outgroup) European Dragon Frost Dragon Knucker Dragon Tibetan Dragon Lindworm Dragon no no yes vestigial no cheek bristles wings armoured spines number of legs horns arrowhead tail loves treasure breathes fire long whiskers "Not in book. Asian Lung Dragon yes none no four stag-like feathered no no yes none none yes no no flight yes four simple yes yes yes no flight yes four simple yes no no no vestigial no four none yes yes no no none no four stag-like feathered no no yes yes none no two simple yes no how to draw a phylogeny tree of the dragons shown in table 1 in details please? What would the tree look like? no no no no no

Answer 1

Phylogenetic tree can drawn by using common characters , in the given table the common character present in all dragons is tail. Most of dragons have pointed tail but tibetan and asian dragons have feathered tail. Next common character is number of legs, most of dragons have four legs but lindworm dragon have two legs and common dragons are without legs. Similarly other characters also should be used for tree construction. The most specific character is fire breathing which is only found in European dragon so it will be placed in specific dragon only. The tree will be look like highly branched structure.