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A polyphyletic taxon (in red, the group Haemothermia containing warm-blooded tetrapods) does not contain the most recent common ancestor of all its members. A polyphyletic group is an assemblage that includes organisms with mixed evolutionary origin but does not include their most recent common ancestor. [1]
In taxonomy, a group is polyphyletic if it consists of clades from multiple separate branches of the tree of life, not forming a complete clade. This classification is often due to phenotypes that have converged or reverted so as to appear to be the same but which have not been inherited from common ancestors.
Ratites (/ ˈ r æ t aɪ t s /) are a polyphyletic group consisting of all birds within the infraclass Palaeognathae that lack keels and cannot fly. [3] They are mostly large, long-necked, and long-legged, the exception being the kiwi, which is also the only nocturnal extant ratite. The understanding of relationships within the paleognath clade ...
Liver fluke is a collective name of a polyphyletic group of parasitic trematodes under the phylum Platyhelminthes. [1] They are principally parasites of the liver of various mammals, including humans. Capable of moving along the blood circulation, they can occur also in bile ducts, gallbladder, and liver parenchyma. In these organs, they ...
Protozoa (sg.: protozoan or protozoon; alternative plural: protozoans) are a polyphyletic group of single-celled eukaryotes, either free-living or parasitic, that feed on organic matter such as other microorganisms or organic debris. [1] [2] Historically, protozoans were regarded as "one-celled animals".
Thallophytes (Thallophyta or Thallobionta) are a polyphyletic group of non-mobile organisms traditionally described as "thalloid plants", "relatively simple plants" or "lower plants". Stephan Endlicher , a 19th-century Austrian botanist , separated the vegetable kingdom into the thallophytes (algae, lichens, fungi) and the cormophytes ...
The Coelosclerithophorans are a polyphyletic group of organisms bearing hollow sclerites made of aragonite, and with a supposedly distinctive microstructure. [1]Their skeletons may be homologous to those of the molluscs, [2] and Halkieria looks very much like a polyplacophoran.
"Marine protists are a polyphyletic group of organisms playing major roles in the ecology and biogeochemistry of the oceans, including performing much of Earth's photosynthesis and driving the carbon, nitrogen, and silicon cycles. In addition, marine protists occupy key positions in the tree of life, including as the closest relatives of ...