The Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Creationism (2018)

the other comprising the Devonian tetrapods. Every member of Group 1 is positively correlated with every other member of the group; the same is true of Group 2. Furthermore, every member of Group 1 is negatively correlated with every member of Group 2, with the sole exception of Tiktaalik with Ymeria . Elginerpeton is neither positively nor negatively correlated with any other taxon in the dataset. Bootstrap values range from 24% to 100%, with a median value of 65%. The lowest bootstrap values (24%- 65%, with a median of 44%) are associated with the negative correlations between the Devonian fishes and a subset of the tetrapods (comprising Ymeria + Metaxygnathus + Densignathus + Ventastega ). Bootstrap values for the negative correlations between the fishes and Ichthyostega + Acanthostega are generally higher (64%-99%, with a median of 88.5%). The 3D MDS results (Figure 12) show the same clusters, with Elpistostege a little separated from the other fishes. Elginerpeton stands apart from both clusters. The minimal stress was at three dimensions (0.171). The baraminic distance correlation results for Clack et al.’s (2016) matrix with a subset of 13 taxa are summarized in Figure 13. At least two and possibly three clusters can be seen: (1) the elpistostegids + Eusthenopteron , (2) Tulerpeton + Pederpes , and (3) the rest of the tetrapods. All members of Group 2 are negatively correlated with all members of Group 1. However, there are no negative correlations between Group 3 and either of the other two groups, and one member of Group 3 ( Ymeria ) is positively correlated with one member of Group 1 ( Tiktaalik ). Overall, bootstrap values are very low, ranging from 19% to 97% with a median value of 64%. The 3D MDS results (Figure 14) reveal a diffuse cluster of tetrapods separated from the elpistostegids + Eusthenopteron , with Tulerpeton and Pederpes the furthest from the elpistostegids. The 3D stress was 0.155 with minimal stress of 0.146 at four dimensions. The baraminic distance correlation results for Clack et al.’s (2016) matrix with a subset of 9 taxa are summarized in Figure 15. Two clusters can be seen, one comprising the Devonian fishes (including the elpistostegids) and the other comprising four of the Devonian Garner and Asher ◀ Devonian and Carboniferous tetrapodomorphs ▶ 2018 ICC 466 Figure 11. BDC results for Sookias et al.’s (2014) matrix with a subset of 11 taxa, as calculated by BDISTMDS (relevance cutoff 0.75). Closed squares indicate significant, positive BDC; open circles indicate significant, negative BDC. Black symbols indicate bootstrap values >90% in a sample of 100 pseudoreplicates. Grey symbols represent bootstrap values <90%. Figure 12. Three dimensional MDS applied to Sookias et al.’s (2014) matrix with a subset of 11 taxa. Devonian tetrapods are shown in blue, elpistostegids in red and other fishes in black. Figure 13. BDC results for Clack et al.’s (2014) matrix with a subset of 13 taxa, as calculated by BDISTMDS (relevance cutoff 0.75). Closed squares indicate significant, positive BDC; open circles indicate significant, negative BDC. Black symbols indicate bootstrap values >90% in a sample of 100 pseudoreplicates. Grey symbols represent bootstrap values <90%. Figure 14. Three dimensional MDS applied to Clack et al.’s (2016) matrix with a subset of 13 taxa. Devonian tetrapods are shown in blue, elpistostegids in red, Carboniferous tetrapods in yellow and other fishes in black.