clade
/kleɪd
/noun Biology
A group of organisms believed to comprise all the evolutionary descendants of a common ancestor: the great ape and human clade...
- Species in the two primary clades in the genus tend to be found in different parts of North America.
- Fossils are often not ancestors of extant taxa, but instead may be extinct sister groups to modern taxa or clades.
- The same mode of increase has been adopted independently in phylogenetically distinct clades.
Origin
1950s: from Greek klados 'branch'.