What do the tips of a phylogenetic tree represent?

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A diagram showing the tentative evolutionary relationships among hominid species over the past four million years, with skull images and labeled species names connected by solid and dotted lines to indicate proposed evolutionary pathways. — phylogeny Tentative phylogenetic scheme for the evolution of the human lineage. Solid bars indicate the time ranges during which species are thought to have existed, based on fossil evidence. Dotted lines signify evolutionary relationships between hominin species that have been proposed on the basis of the fossil evidence.

In a phylogenetic tree, the tips represent the ultimate descendants of the ancestors located farther back along the branches. These tips signify the current or terminal organisms in the evolutionary lineage being depicted.1

When interpreting these diagrams, it is important to remember that the branches leading to these tips represent the progression of evolutionary change, while the nodes—the points where branches split—represent the common ancestors from which these descendant lineages diverged. To accurately determine the evolutionary relatedness between organisms, one should trace the path from the nodes to the tips rather than relying on the visual proximity of the tips themselves.1