As demonstrated by the new analysis,
problems are not solved by simply excluding
from the data matrix the characters suspected to
be paedomorphic and by taking into account the
parallel evolution of adaptive changes associated
with the aquatic habitat typical of salamander larvae
generally and defi nitely retained in the paedomorphic
lineages. A possibly more disturbing
problem is the absence, in the paedomorphic lineages,
of those synapomorphies that in nonpaedomorphic
taxa develop at metamorphosis.