you:

If one looks carefully at Maxson and Wilson's data, theirs show the Hyla regilla/H. crucifer/Pseudacris branch forming an unresolved polytomy with the Hyla eximia/Hyla chrysoscelis branch, and the Hyla arborea branch. That means the common ancestor of Hyla regilla, Hyla crucifer and Pseudacris is also the common ancestor of Hyla arborea, Hyla eximia and Hyla chrysoscelis. Moriarty and Cannatella's "Pseudacris" is defined cladistically as the common ancestor of Hyla regilla, Hyla crucifer and Pseudacris (traditionally defined) plus all of the desendants of this ancestral species.

me:

No, the fact that Pseudacris (including crucifer and regilla) form their own exclusive branch in all analyses (including Maxson and Wilson's), something that you acknowledge above, means that they share a more recent common ancestor exclusive of the one uniting all Hyla.

Look at taxon sampling in Moriarty and Canatella relative to Maxson and Wilson. That is the reason you "H. crucifer" is sister to Pseudacris, not nested within.

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