polyphyletic
polyphyletic Describing a group of organisms that contains the descendants of two or more different ancestors, while excluding other descendants of a single ultimate common ancestor. Such a group may be constructed on the basis of certain shared traits, which may have evolved convergently (see convergent evolution), but it does not necessarily reflect any close evolutionary relationship, and is therefore rejected as a basis for phylogenetic classification. For example, mammals and birds share the trait of endothermy (‘warm-bloodedness’), but the grouping ‘endotherms’ is polyphyletic because its members have quite different immediate ancestors and the defining trait evolved independently in each member. Compare monophyletic; paraphyletic.
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paraphyletic
paraphyletic In systematics, describing a group of organisms that excludes one or more descendants of a particular… Monophyletic , monophyletic In systematics, describing a group of organisms that contains all the descendants of a particular single common ancestor. In cladistics… Group Dynamics , A group can be defined as several individuals who come together to accomplish a particular task or goal. Group dynamics refers to the attitudinal and… Homoplasy , homoplasy The similarity of a particular character in two different, yet often related, groups of organisms that is not the result of common ancestry… Peer Group , peer group A set of individuals who, sharing certain common characteristics such as age, ethnicity, or occupation, perceive themselves and are recogn… Cladistics , cladistics (klədĬs´tĬks) or phylogenetic systematics (fī´lōjənĕt´Ĭk), an approach to the classification of living things in which organisms are defin…
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