The assassination of a hypothesis by non-critical interpretation of molecular data: A comment on Sharma et al. (2017)

Autor(es)

Machado, Glauco ^[1] ; Wolff, Jonas O. ^[2]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Biociencias, Dept Ecol, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[2] Macquarie Univ, Dept Biol Sci, Sydney, NSW - Australia

• Tipo de documento: Carta
• Fonte: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution; v. 129, p. 346-348, DEC 2018.
• Citações Web of Science: 1

Resumo

In a recent paper, Sharma et al. (2017) tested the hypothesis that eggs attached to males' legs in podoctid harvestmen are laid by conspecifics. Using molecular methods, they falsify the ``paternal care hypothesis{''} and suggest that the eggs belong to spiders. Here we raise several criticisms to the authenticity of this finding and present arguments supporting the hypothesis that eggs belong to harvestmen and are not accidentally attached to the males. We argue that the falsification of the paternal care hypothesis in podoctids is premature and based on non-critical interpretation of molecular data. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier Inc. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 15/10448-4 - Inter-relações entre cuidado paternal e seleção sexual em opiliões
• Beneficiário: Glauco Machado
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Regular