Phylogeny and the Tree of Life

A series of flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts from Chapter 26 on phylogeny and the tree of life.

Phylogeny

The evolutionary history of a species or group of related species.

Systematics

The discipline that classifies organisms and determines their evolutionary relationships.

Taxonomy

The ordered division and naming of organisms.

Binomial Nomenclature

A two-part scientific naming system developed by Carolus Linnaeus.

Taxon

A taxonomic unit at any level of hierarchy.

Phylogenetic Tree

A diagram that depicts evolutionary relationships among species.

Sister Taxa

Groups that share an immediate common ancestor.

Homology

Similarity due to shared ancestry.

Analogy

Similarity due to convergent evolution.

Cladistics

A method of classifying organisms based on common descent.

Clade

A group of species that includes an ancestral species and all its descendants.

Monophyletic

A valid clade consisting of the ancestor species and all its descendants.

Paraphyletic

A grouping that consists of an ancestral species and some of its descendants.

Polyphyletic

A grouping that consists of various species that lack a common ancestor.

Shared Ancestral Character

A character that originated in an ancestor of the taxon.

Shared Derived Character

An evolutionary novelty unique to a particular clade.

Molecular Clock

A method that uses constant rates of evolution in some genes to estimate the absolute time of evolutionary change.

Horizontal Gene Transfer

The movement of genes from one genome to another.