cladistics

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cladistics A special taxonomic system applied to the study of evolutionary relationships. In the branching diagrams or ‘cladograms’ used to portray these relationships, cladogenesis, or splitting of an evolutionary lineage, always creates two equal sister taxa: the branching is dichotomous. Thus, each pair of sister taxa constitutes a monophyletic group with a common stem taxon, unique to the group. See PHYLOGENETIC SYSTEMATICS.

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