Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 March 2017
Milnor proved that the moduli space Md  of rational maps of degree d ≥ 2 has a complex orbifold structure of dimension 2(d − 1). Let us denote by  
 ${\mathcal S}$  d  the singular locus of Md  and by  
 ${\mathcal B}$  d  the branch locus, that is, the equivalence classes of rational maps with non-trivial holomorphic automorphisms. Milnor observed that we may identify M2 with ℂ2 and, within that identification, that  
 ${\mathcal B}$  2 is a cubic curve; so  
 ${\mathcal B}$  2 is connected and  
 ${\mathcal S}$  2 = ∅. If d ≥ 3, then it is well known that  
 ${\mathcal S}$  d  =  
 ${\mathcal B}$  d . In this paper, we use simple arguments to prove the connectivity of  
 ${\mathcal S}$  d .