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In phylogenetics, an apomorphy (or derived trait) is a novel character or character state that has evolved from its ancestral form (or plesiomorphy). [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] A synapomorphy is an apomorphy shared by two or more taxa and is therefore hypothesized to have evolved in their most recent common ancestor .
In phylogenetics, a plesiomorphy ("near form") and symplesiomorphy are synonyms for an ancestral character shared by all members of a clade, which does not distinguish the clade from other clades. Plesiomorphy, symplesiomorphy, apomorphy, and synapomorphy all mean a trait shared between species because they share an ancestral species. [a]
Phylogenies showing the terminology used to describe different patterns of ancestral and derived character or trait states. [1]In phylogenetics, an autapomorphy is a distinctive feature, known as a derived trait, that is unique to a given taxon.
A ghost lineage is any gap in a taxon's fossil record, with or without reappearance, while a Lazarus taxon is a type of ghost lineage wherein a species is believed to have gone extinct due to an absence of it in the fossil record, but then reappears after a period of time. [2]
Eye color is an example of a (physical) phenotypic trait. A phenotypic trait, [1] [2] simply trait, or character state [3] [4] is a distinct variant of a phenotypic characteristic of an organism; it may be either inherited or determined environmentally, but typically occurs as a combination of the two. [5]
Character evolution is the process by which a character or trait (a certain body part or property of an organism) evolves along the branches of an evolutionary tree. Character evolution usually refers to single changes within a lineage that make this lineage unique from others.
In doing so, a derived character is depicted as a character procured through evolution from the previous ancestral state, and persisting due to fixation of derived alleles. Whereas, a primitive character is one that is originally present in the ancestral population. [5] Primitive characters are avoided as they depict the ancestral character state.
Cladistics (/ k l ə ˈ d ɪ s t ɪ k s / klə-DIST-iks; from Ancient Greek κλάδος kládos 'branch') [1] is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups ("clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry.