Definitions for cladisticskləˈdɪs tɪks
Random House Webster's College Dictionary
cla•dis•tics*kləˈdɪs tɪks(n.)
a system of classification of organisms based on the branchings of clades.
Category: Biology, Taxonomy
the study of such systems.
Category: Biology
* (used with a pl. v.).
Origin of cladistics:
1965–70
cla•dis′tic(adj.)
Princeton's WordNet
cladistics, cladistic analysis(noun)
a system of biological taxonomy based on the quantitative analysis of comparative data and used to reconstruct cladograms summarizing the (assumed) phylogenetic relations and evolutionary history of groups of organisms
Wiktionary
cladistics(Noun)
: An approach to biological systematics in which organisms are grouped based upon synapomorphies (shared derived characteristics) only, and not upon symplesiomorphies (shared ancestral characteristics).
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