Three‐taxon Statements: A More Precise Use of Parsimony?

Binary characters can be represented in data matrices by the three‐taxon statements they imply. Transforming characters into three‐taxon statements may increase the sensitivity of parsimony to differences in the fit of data to alternative cladograms. Extrapolation of the technique to multistate features allows semi‐additive characters to be coded accurately. In many cases, analysis of the transformed data produces fewer equally parsimonious solutions than does analysis of the raw data. In other cases, additional equally parsimonious solutions, or even different solutions, may be produced; in those cases, the results appear to accommodate information from a larger number of characters than do the results from raw data.