Palæos:		Cladistics
SYSTEMATICS		Paraphyly

Page Back

Page Next

Unit Back

Unit Up

Unit Next

Unit Home

Systematics Glossary

References

Paraphyly

graphic © Darren Abbey

The Paraphyletic taxon is a group of organisms in which the most recent common ancestor of all those organisms and some, but not all, of that ancestor's descendents are included.  Paraphyletic taxa are recognized in Linnean and evolutionary systematics but not in cladistics.

Illustration: the Class Reptilia gave rise to mammals and birds, but neither mammals nor birds are included under Reptilia.

Examples:  Invertebrates, Amphibia, Reptilia, Dinosauria if excluding birds, Gymnosperma, etc.