Clade

A clade is group of organisms which share a common ancestor and which includes all decendents of that ancestor. Taxonomy which requires all taxa to be clades is called cladistics. A clade may or may not conform to an existing taxon. A clade is thus a monophyletic group of organisms. The term evolutionary grade is sometimes used for groups of related organisms that don't include all decendents of their common ancestor.

Related Topics:
Organisms - Taxonomy - Cladistics - Taxon - Monophyletic - Evolutionary grade

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The PhyloCode is an attempt at a Code that will allow clades to get a formal name.

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