Future research on Acipenseridae with facilities, finances, and help that made field
work rewarding and beneficial. This project was
The most immediate problem in acipenserid phylo- supported at different times by the Lerner-Grey
geny is alpha-level systematics of Acipenser. and Donn E. Rosen Funds of the American Mu-
Morphological variation within and among species seum of Natural History and a National Science
ofAcipenseris a stumbling block for comparative Foundation Grant BSR-9220938. Finally, I thank
work, but most species do possess a basic morphol- Carolanne Milligan for reading the manuscript and
ogy definable for phylogenetic analysis. Morpho- supporting me during the writing and final prepara-
logical characters such as shape of the trunk scales, tion of this study.
scutes and even morphometric characters might be
fruitful for species comparisons. For instance,Aci-
penser brevirostrumandA. fulvescensare similar to
each other in these characters, but not toA. oxyrin-
species withinAcipenserare recognizable, but too
many species are currently undescribed and all are
necessary for a phylogenetic analysis. Recent work
on karyological and molecular systematics suggests
interesting patterns among the species ofAcipenser
that would be ideal starting points for a complete
analysis of potential characters.
At the evolutionary level, many of the hypothes-
es presented here require additional ecological in-
formation and functional investigation. Detailed
ontogenetic studies on behavior and morphology,
external and internal, will certainly define charac-
ters for phylogenetic analysis within AcipenserThe
cladogram presented here is a first step toward bet-
ter understanding acipenserids, but future studies
on several fronts are necessary to make progress in
phylogenetic and evolutionary studies of sturgeons.References citedchus.Similar biogeographically localized groups of Agassiz, L. 1844. Recherches sur les poissons fossiles. 2 (2,
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Berg, L.S. 1948b. On the position of the Acipenseriformes in theAcknowledgementsThis project is a portion of a doctoral dissertation
completed at the University of Massachusetts. I
wish to thank Willy Bemis and Lance Grande for
their assistance and dialogue throughout the work.
Also I thank Vadim Birstein, John Waldman, Willy
Bemis and Eugene Balon for reviewing this manu-
script specifically and for their energies in editing
this volume on acipenseriform biology. I am grate-
ful for all the help of the Kahrs family (especially
Peter and Steven Kahrs) and Gary Pinson of Osage
Catfisheries Inc. who assisted in collection of adult
and developmental specimens ofScaphirhynchus