cladogenesis
Quick Summary
Cladogenesis is a biological term describing evolutionary change characterized by the branching of taxa, meaning new species or groups arise from a common ancestor in a tree-like pattern. This contrasts with anagenesis, which involves evolutionary change within a lineage without branching. A "clade" refers to a group of organisms that includes all descendants of a single common ancestor. This concept is fundamental to phylogenetic taxonomy, also known as cladism, which infers evolutionary relationships based on shared derived characteristics called synapomorphies.123
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