"Parsimony" program for clade studies

[Jim Taylor]

Hi, Folks.

I read the other day about a program to determine the degree to which
species, genera, etc., are related to each other, and the tool in use was a
program using the principle of parsimony.  The name suggests a comparison of
some sort of characteristics of the critters under study with those sharing
the most being the most closely related. One could do this readily with a
simple spread sheet program, I suppose, but the idea of a program written
specifically to that purpose is intriguing.

I should like to look into this further.  Anyone know of this program, and
how I might obtain a copy for study?  Anyone have an opinion on the veracity
of the results compared to, say, a DNA analysis? How would one go about
choosing the most meaningful characteristics for comparison? How would one
weigh the characteristics so chosen?

Comments appreciated.

Jim Taylor