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Chapter 5
Chapter 5
Chapter 5
and Taxonomy
Relatedness and Taxonomy
• Following the acceptance of evolutionary theory in the 19th
century
• taxonomy, the science of establishing and using biological
classifications, used to represent evolutionary relationships.
• taxonomy became a branch of systematics, the study of the
evolution of biological diversity.
Relatedness and Taxonomy
• 3 goals of systematics
• 1st, evolutionary relatedness should be defined in
terms of common ancestry.
• Organisms are intended to show patterns of
descent, not phenotypic similarity.
• Vertebrates
• Tetrapods and limbless (fish)
• Tetrapods could be divided into amphibious
life style amniotes
• Amniotes into:
• Birds (feathers and wings)
• Mammals (those with fur and milk)
• Reptiles (those with neither feathers nor fur)
MONOPHYLY AND PHYLOGENETIC
SYSTEMATICS
• Despite the development of phylogenetic systematics,
classifications were still based on "important" traits
• Does not accurately reflect evolutionary
relationships.