Despite the recovery of paralogues and pseudogenes in a small number of taxa, PRK and RPB2 were both highly informative, producing well-resolved phylogenetic trees with many nodes well supported by bootstrap analyses. Simultaneous analyses of the combined data sets provided additional resolution and support. Two areas of incongruence between PRK and RPB2 were strongly supported by the bootstrap relating to the placement of tribes Chamaedoreeae, Iriarteeae and Reinhardtieae; the causes of this incongruence remain uncertain. The current classification within Arecoideae was strongly supported by the present data. Of the 14 tribes and 14 sub-tribes in the classification, only five sub-tribes from tribe Areceae (Basseliniinae, Linospadicinae, Oncospermatinae, Rhopalostylidinae and Verschaffeltiinae) failed to receive support. Three major higher level clades were strongly supported: (1) the RRC clade (Roystoneeae, Reinhardtieae and Cocoseae), (2) the POS clade (Podococceae, Oranieae and Sclerospermeae) and (3) the core arecoid clade (Areceae, Euterpeae, Geonomateae, Leopoldinieae, Manicarieae and Pelagodoxeae). However, new data sources are required to elucidate ambiguities that remain in phylogenetic relationships among and within the major groups of Arecoideae, as well as within the Areceae, the largest tribe in the palm family.

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The diets of terapontid assemblages in 22 catchments across Australia's wet-dry tropics were investigated in relation to the direct use of terrestrial-riparian inputs, as well as the role of ontogeny and morphology in mediating consumption of allocthonous material. The diet of several species was restricted almost entirely to instream trophic resources throughout their life history. In contrast, ontogenetic diet shifts towards increasing consumption of terrestrial prey types were a prominent feature of the dietary ecology of some terapontids, with collective allocthonous dietary items making a significant contribution (up to 42%) to diet in larger size classes of several species. For those species consuming terrestrial-riparian material in their diet, terrestrial invertebrates were the most common prey item; however, terrestrial vegetation, principally riparian fruits, and terrestrial vertebrates were also important dietary inclusions in the larger size classes of particular species. A large mouth gape was the morphological feature most strongly associated with consumption of terrestrial food resources within the Terapontidae. Results indicate that the direct consumption of terrestrially derived food sources in northern Australian aquatic systems may be more important than previously asserted, and that additional research is required to better clarify the role of terrestrial subsidies to these ecosystems.