Phylogenetic Trees and Cladograms

• Show the possible evolutionary relationship among

species
Phylogeny - the evolutionary history for a group of
species.

– Uses evidence from living species (ex. homologous

structures), fossil record, and molecular data (ex. DNA)
– shown with branching tree diagrams = phylogenetic
trees or evolutionary trees
NOTE: Trees are based on hypotheses, not definitive facts.
• Phylogenetic trees drawn in many different formats:

• Phylogenetic trees can be rotated:

NOTE: It isn’t the order that matters rather the branching patterns!
Cladistics is classification based on common ancestry.
• Cladograms are a common method of making evolutionary
trees.
– classification based on derived traits
– species placed in order that they descended from
common ancestor
Ancestral or Primitive Trait: A characteristic that evolved in a
common ancestor.
– For ex.) Jaws is an ancestral character of the perch and the
chimp.
Derived Trait: A characteristic that evolved within one group but
not another.
– For ex.) Fur and mammary glands evolved in an ancestor of
mice that was not also ancestral to pigeons

5
– more closely related species share more derived traits
– derived traits are represented on cladogram as hash
marks or dots
1 Tetrapoda clade

2 Amniota clade

3 Reptilia clade
4 Diapsida clade
5 Archosauria clade

FEATHERS &
TOOTHLESS
BEAKS.

SKULL OPENINGS IN FRONT

OF THE EYE &
IN THE JAW

OPENING IN THE SIDE OF THE

SKULL

SKULL OPENINGS BEHIND THE EYE

EMBRYO PROTECTED BY AMNIOTIC FLUID

FOUR LIMBS WITH DIGITS

DERIVED CHARACTER
Cladogram
• made up of dichotomous branches, with groups of organisms
or individual species at the ends of each branch.
• Each branching point, or node represents divergence from a
hypothetical common ancestor.
• A clade is a group of species that shares a common ancestor.
• At each branch point lies the most recent common
ancestor of all the groups descended from that branch
point.
• For example:
 Differences between phylogenetic trees and cladograms:

• Many biologists use these terms

interchangeably
• Both are based on ancestral
relationships
• Some scientists associate
phylogenetic trees with true
evolutionary history
• Some scientists consider
cladograms to represent
hypotheses about a group of
organisms’ ancestry
• In phylogenetic trees,
branch lengths can
represent the amount
of genetic change or
are proportional to
time
• In cladograms the
branch lengths are
usually considered to
be arbitrary
Phylogenic trees show when in time traits developed

You can use them to:

1. Find which organisms are most primitive.
2. Find which organisms are most closely related
Phylogenic trees show when in time traits developed

You can use them to:

1. Find which organisms are most primitive.
2. Find which organisms are most closely related
Primitive:

Primitive = old, simple

The most primitive species are at the

bottom (left)

The most recent species are at the top

(right)
Most primitive Most recent
Common Ancestry

Each branch point

represents the common
ancestor of two species.
Organisms have the traits that come before
them
ex. everything after the Perch has lungs
ex. What characteristic does the
salamander have that the perch lacks?
Species are closely related if they branch off
close together
PRACTICE

VIDEO