ANTA01H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Oligocene, Paleocene, Chordate
Document Summary
Classification - in biology, the ordering of organisms into categories, such as orders, families, and genera, to show evolutionary relationships. Chordata - the phylum of the animal kingdom that includes vertebrates. Vertebrates - animals with segmented, bony spinal columns; includes fishes, amphibians, reptiles (including birds), and mammals. Homologies - similarities between organisms based on descent from a common ancestor. Analogies - similarities between organisms based strictly on common function, with no assumed common evolutionary descent. Homoplasy - the separate evolutionary development of similar characteristics in different groups of organisms. Evolutionary systematics - a traditional approach to classification (and evolutionary interpretation) in which presumed ancestors and descendants are traced in time by analysis of homologous characters. Cladistics - an approach to classification that attempts to make rigorous evolutionary interpretations based solely on analysis of certain types of homologous characters (those considered to be derived characters).
