Phylogeny

The true evolutionary history of a group of taxa is called their phylogeny. It is a branching pattern of successive taxa that results from numerous cladogenetic events. The word "true" is highlighted here to emphasize that phylogeny refers to a true "tree of life", as opposed to theories and attempts that people make to describe that tree. It may be attempted to represent a phylogeny by a hierarchical branching diagram (a phylogenetic tree), but it is important to note that the diagram itself is not a phylogeny. The diagram may be thought of as an attempt, of some degree of accuracy, at describing the evolutionary relationships of taxa. Phylogeny is something that biological taxonomists attempt to discover, but it is not an activity.

Biology Encyclopedia	Phylogeny The true evolutionary history of a group of taxa is called their phylogeny. It is a branching pattern of successive taxa that results from numerous cladogenetic events. The word "true" is highlighted here to emphasize that phylogeny refers to a true "tree of life", as opposed to theories and attempts that people make to describe that tree. It may be attempted to represent a phylogeny by a hierarchical branching diagram (a phylogenetic tree), but it is important to note that the diagram itself is not a phylogeny. The diagram may be thought of as an attempt, of some degree of accuracy, at describing the evolutionary relationships of taxa. Phylogeny is something that biological taxonomists attempt to discover, but it is not an activity.
Abbreviations and Symbols
Contributors
Sponsors
Contributing
Sources
Contact
Author