Systematics Vocabulary

3. derived trait
4. a trait that was present in the ancestor of a group
6. a trait in a descendent that differs from the trait of the ancestor
7. any group of species that we designate
10. the field devoted to classifying organisms
13. a derived trait shared among a group that are viewed as evidence of the common ancestry of the group
15. shared ancestral trait

1. the study of the evolutionary history of species
2. a type of evolution where independently evolved traits subjected to similar selection pressures may become superficially similar
5. the branch of biology that investigates relationships among species to understand the history of life
8. a derived trait unique to a single taxon
9. the simplest explanation of observed data
11. a taxon that consists of all the descendents of a common ancestor
12. features shared by multiple species that were inherited from a common ancestor
14. designates the closest relative of a taxon