Relationships of Metazoan Phyla: Advances, Problems, and Approaches hosted by the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology in Boston in January, 1998

由Damhnait MCHUGH和Kenneth M. Halanych协调的“后生动物门的关系：进展、问题和方法”研讨会将于1998年1月在波士顿由综合与比较生物学学会主办。本次研讨会将对动物门之间的历史（系统发育）关系的知识现状进行批判性评估，特别是那些具有不同身体结构的动物门。通过识别问题和强调重建动物类群之间系统发育关系的不同方法，研讨会将在指导该领域未来的研究中发挥重要作用。为期两天的会议日程包括三个主题演讲和17个研讨会报告，主题包括使用线粒体基因排列来分析动物之间的关系，动物身体结构变化的遗传基础，通过形态学和分子证据评估的双边对称动物之间的系统发育关系，在寒武纪时代的化石中观察到的动物类群数量相对于在更古老的岩石中观察到的动物类群数量的大量增加，这种可能性并不意味着寒武纪之前的动物种类更少。会议记录将发表在《美国动物学家》杂志上。

9707146 MCHUGH The symposium ORelationships of Metazoan Phyla: Advances, Problems, and ApproachesO, to be coordinated by Damhnait McHugh and Kenneth M. Halanych, will be hosted by the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology in Boston in January, 1998. This symposium will provide a critical assessment of the current state of knowledge about the historical (phylogenetic) relationships among the phyla of animals, especially those that have different body plans. By identifying problems and highlighting different approaches to reconstructing the phylogenetic relationships among animal groups, the symposium will play an important role in directing future research in the field. The two-day schedule includes three keynote addresses and 17 symposium presentations from researchers on topics such as the use of mitochondrial gene arrangements to analyze relationships among animals, the genetic basis for change in animal body plans, the phylogenetic relationships among bilaterally symmetrical animals as assessed by both morphological and molecular evidence, and the possibility that the great increase in the numbers of animal taxa observed in Cambrian-age fossils relative to those in older rocks does not mean that there were fewer animal species before the Cambrian. Symposium proceedings will be published in the journal OAmerican ZoologistO.