The Origin and Early Development of the Method of Minimum Evolution for the Reconstruction of Phylogenetic Trees

The method of minimum evolution was introduced by Edwards and Cavalli-Sforza (1963, Heredity 18:553, Ann. Hum. Genet. 27:104–105) for the reconstruction of phylogenetic trees. Its relationship to the subsequently developed parsimony methods and the logical basis of the methods are discussed, with special reference to probability models. The minimum evolution method did not derive from Hennig's phylogenetic systematics but rather as an approximation to the maximum-likelihood solution for a model of random evolution.