What is the best argument for maximum parsimony method in phylogenetic tree construction? Beside it (maximum parsimony) being compuationally cheap what other good arguments are there for it? Is there any model behind this principle ? Why would one expect this principle to provide right phylogeny in any situation at all ?
I'd say maximum parsimony approaches assume genetic similarity is unlikely to occur by convergence, but likely a result of divergence. If this assumptions holds, finding the tree configuration that minimizes the number of unlikely events makes sense.