Aim Recent comparisons of different approaches to historical biogeography have suffered in part because Brooks Parsimony Analysis (BPA) has been characterized as a one‐step process following protocols proposed in 1981. Subsequent modifications have resulted in a two‐step methodology. This contribution presents the mechanics and applications of those modifications. Methods The first step, or Primary BPA, which is similar to the original BPA but with modifications proposed by Wiley (1986, 1988a, b), is used to assess whether or not there is support for a single general area cladogram. The second step, Secondary BPA, proposed by Brooks (1990), depicts exceptions to the general area cladogram explicitly by duplicating areas having a reticulate history. Results The analytical basis of area duplication in secondary BPA is explained more fully than in previous accounts, and the manner in which secondary BPA explicitly depicts falsification of the null hypothesis of simple vicariance is presented for four general cases. Main conclusions BPA, as fully implemented, is capable of accounting for the complexity of speciation, dispersal and extinction events in a historical biogeographic context without removing or modifying input data from basic phylogenies, so long as at least three clades are analysed simultaneously to provide a distinction between general and special distribution elements.

Abstract. Host-parasite associations are assumed to be ecologically specialized, tightly coevolved systems driven by mutual modification in which host switching is a rare phenomenon. Ecological fitting, however, increases the probability of host switching, creating incongruences between host and parasite phylogenies, when (1) specialization on a particular host resource is a shared characteristic of distantly related parasites, and (2) the resource being tracked by the parasite is widespread among many host species. We investigated the effect of ecological fitting on structuring the platyhelminth communities of anurans from a temperate forest and grassland in the United States and tropical dry and wet forests in Mexico and Costa Rica. The six communities all exhibit similar structure in terms of the genera and families inhabiting the frogs. Parasite species richness is highly correlated with the amount of time a host spends in association with aquatic habitats, a conservative aspect of both parasite and host natural history, and determined in a proximal sense by host mobility and diet breadth. The pattern of parasite genera and families within host genera across the regions examined is consistent with the prediction that ecological fitting by phylogenetically conservative species, coupled with historical accidents of speciation and dispersal, should be evidenced as a nestedsubset structure; the shared requirement for aquatic habitats of tadpoles provides a baseline assemblage to which other parasite taxa are added as a function of adult host association with aquatic habitats. We conclude that parasite communities are structured by both ecological fitting and coevolution (mutual modification), the relative influences of which are expected to vary among different communities and associations.

The phylogeny of the Felidae is reconstructed using a total evidence approach combining sequences from 12S rRNA, 16S rRNA, NADH‐5, and cytochrome b genes with morphological and karyological characters. The 1504‐character data set generated two equally parsimonious trees (CI = 0.413, 1795 steps) of which a strict consensus revealed one polytomy in the placement of the bay cat group. The tree supports several traditional groupings such as the genera Panthera and Lynx and the ocelot group of small South American felids, and it provides additional resolution of relationships within and among the major felid lineages. Combining phylogenetic, distributional, and ecological data indicates that vicariant speciation has played a relatively minor role in the diversification of the felids (approximately 26% of events), while sympatric speciation has been more important than expected on theoretical grounds (approximately 51.8% of events), although postspeciation dispersal may have blurred the boundaries between sympatric, parapatric, and peripheral isolate modes. An examination of ecological changes on the felid tree shows repeated patterns of resource partitioning in time (activity patterns), space (preferred habitat type), and food (as measured by body size) among closely related species. The rapid diversification of the cats thus appears to have been associated more with ecological than with geological separation.

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