cladistics

Question 1

a named group of two or more organisms

Answer 1

A Taxon

Question 2

a diagram summarizing a pattern of character distributions

Answer 2

A Cladogram

Question 3

a taxon used in cladistic analysis for comparative purposes, usually with respect to determining character polarity

Answer 3

Outgroup

Question 4

the group under investigation in cladistics analysis to resove the relationship of its members

Answer 4

Ingroup

Question 5

an observable feature that is used to distinguish it from another or a hypothesis of primary homology in two or more organisms

Answer 5

character

Question 6

derived character or character state

Answer 6

apomorphy

Question 7

an ancestral less derived or primative character or character-state

Answer 7

plesiomorphy

Question 8

a plesiomorphic character or character-state shared in two or more taxa in a monophyletic group

Answer 8

symplesiomorphy

Question 9

an apomorphy that unites two or more taxa in a monophyletic group

Answer 9

synapomorphy

Question 10

a derived character or character-state restricted to a single terminal taxon

Answer 10

autapomorphy

Question 11

any character that is not a a synapomorphy or specifying a different group of taxa from another character

Answer 11

homoplasy

Question 12

taxonomic group that includes a most recent common ancestor plus all of its descendents

Answer 12

monophyletic

Question 13

a group that includes a most recent common ancestor and only some of its descendants

Answer 13

paraphyletic

Question 14

a group based on homoplastic characters that does not include the most recent common ancestor of all its members

Answer 14

polyphyletic

Question 15

Taxon genealogically most closely related to the ingroup, or to taxa more closely related to each other than either is to a third taxa

Answer 15

Sister-group