Summary of the ancestral character state reconstructions of the braincase characters on slightly pruned trees derived from both parsimony and Bayesian analyses.

A) Parsimony and maximum likelihood ancestral character state reconstructions of the braincase characters on the strict consensus tree derived from the parsimony analysis. Coloured lines represent zones retrieved as ambiguous for the optimization of each character state under the parsimony criterion, and dots represent the locations retrieved as most probable location for each character state. B) Maximum Likelihood ancestral character state reconstructions of the braincase characters on the All Compatible clades consensus tree derived from the Bayesian analysis. The discrete states of the four characters used in this analysis (93, basioccipital loss in blue; 109, basisphenoid loss in red; 110 hypoglossal nerve, n. XII, foramina lost in green; 111, sphenethmoid reduced to paired structures in purple) are described in the locations where states were optimized. Other reductions that are described in the text, but unable to be confirmed in fossil taxa (certain potential reductions) are indicated with asterisks.