Which clades are monophyletic?
Monophyletic taxon : A group composed of a collection of organisms, including the most recent common ancestor of all those organisms and all the descendants of that most recent common ancestor. A monophyletic taxon is also called a clade. Examples : Mammalia, Aves (birds), angiosperms, insects, etc.
How do you identify a monophyletic clade?
A monophyletic group of species shares a single common ancestor and also includes all of the descendants of that common ancestor. On a phylogenetic tree, a monophyletic group includes a node and all of the descendants of that node, represented by both nodes and terminal taxa.
What makes a clade monophyletic?
A monophyletic group, sometimes called a clade, includes an ancestral taxon and all of its descendants. A monophyletic group can be separated from the root with a single cut, whereas a non-monophyletic group needs two or more cuts.
What is the smallest monophyletic group?
Taxa
Taxa are ranked as species rather than at some higher level because they are the smallest monophyletic groups deemed worthy of formal recognition, because of the amount of support for their monophyly and/or their importance in biological processes operating on the lineage in question.
What is monophyletic group a paraphyletic group A polyphyletic group?
The monophyletic group consists of a most recent common ancestor and its entire descendants. The paraphyletic group consists of a most recent common ancestor and some of its descendants. The polyphyletic group is an unnatural assemblage of unrelated organisms who lack a most recent common ancestor.
What is a hard polytomy?
Molecular polytomies If a phylogenetic tree is reconstructed from DNA sequence data of a particular gene, a hard polytomy arises when three or more sampled genes trace their ancestry to a single gene in an ancestral organism.
Are mammals monophyletic?
Examples of monophyletic groups include: Mammals, birds, angiosperms, and insects. Examples of paraphyletic groups may include: fish, gymnosperms, protists, and invertebrates.
What is the difference between monophyletic and paraphyletic groups?
A monophyletic group includes all descendants of that most common recent ancestor. A paraphyletic taxon is also defined as a group of organisms sharing a most recent common ancestor; however, a paraphyletic taxon does not include all descendants of that ancestor.