phylogeny
fy-LOD-juh-nee
Definition
The evolutionary history and development of a group of organisms or a particular species, often represented as a branching tree of relationships.
Etymology
Derived from the Greek words phylon, meaning 'tribe' or 'race', and genesis, meaning 'origin' or 'source', describing the history of a group's ancestral development.
In the news
In the article, the authors use phylogeny to explain how the physical spacing of the crinoid's tube feet helps confirm its place within a specific evolutionary lineage or clade.
In the entire 485-million-year fossil record of sea lilies, only one fossil had ever been found with the tube feet the animals catch their food with, and a pair of crushed specimens from a Quebec quarry has now produced the second and oldest case, at about 452
Read the full article ↗ScienceBlog.com