Sister group

Two example cladograms that are identical in their statement: The terminal taxa A and B are sister groups, the clad consisting of A and B and taxon C are also. A and C as well as B and C alone, however, have no sister group relationship in this three-taxon relationship.

Sister group , also sister taxon or Adelphotaxon , is a term from cladistics . Two taxa that have a common ancestral species are sister groups. Sister groups at the species level are called sister species .

On the basis of a phylogenetic investigation, two species are only named sister species if they are the closest relatives to each other, descending from immediate common ancestors.

See also

• Twin species

literature

• Douglas J. Futuyma : Evolution. Elsevier - Spectrum, Akademischer Verlag, Munich 2007, ISBN 3-8274-1816-X .
• Wilfried Westheide , Reinhard Rieger (Hrsg.): Special zoology. Part 1: Protozoa and invertebrates. G. Fischer, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-437-20515-3 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Futuyma: Evolution. 2007, p. 356.