Phylogenetic relationships within phylum Rotifera: orders and genus Notholca

We investigated evolutionary relationships among orders in phylum Rotifera and among species in genus Notholca (Rotifera) by computing parsimonious cladograms. All of the most-parsimonious cladograms generated for the ordinal level confirm the view that class Monogononta, superclass Eurotatoria, and phylum Rotifera are monophyletic. Species within the genus Notholca were separated into six groups (clades), but some species have been defined based on highly variable characters not reliably studied using cladistics. Therefore, phenetic studies are warranted, especially for species possessing caudal processes.