Statistical consistency and phylogenetic inference: a brief review

What is it about?

This paper shows that any phylogenetic method can be statistically inconsistent, that there is no way to know whether a given empirical result is inconsistent or not, and that therefore the problem of inconsistency is not worth worrying about.

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Why is it important?

Statistical inconsistency has been the main justification for model-based approaches to phylogenetic inference. Now the proponents of those methods will need to find a different reason to reject parsimony.