CLADISTICS

[cla.dis.tics] n pl but sing in constr (1965): a system of biological taxonomy that defines taxa uniquely by shared characteristics not found in ancestral groups and uses inferred evolutionary relationships to arrange taxa in a branching hierarchy such that all members of a given taxon have the same ancestors -- cla.dist n -- cla.dis.tic adj -- cla.dis.ti.cal.ly adv