Pertaining to, or characterized by, descent from more than one root form, or from many different root forms; polygenetic; -- opposed to monophyletic.
Term applied to a group of organisms which does not include the most recent common ancestor of those organisms; the ancestor does not possess the character shared by members of the group.
A group of taxa that are derived from two or more ancestral forms not common to all members, (opposite of monophyletic).
A taxon whose members are derived from two or more separate and different ancestral lineages. This is often the result of convergent evolution.
Group of organisms that had separate ancestors.
Descended from different ancestors.
Refers to a group of species that do not have one common ancestor species.
A group of organisms descended from more than one ancestor, may be more closely related to other organisms outside of the taxonomic group
Referring to an artificial group comprising branches from two or more nodes.
having many lines of evolution leading up to the final organism.
composed of members that originated, independently, from more than one evolutionary line. cf. monophyletic.
a taxon which has descendants from more than one ancestral taxon, or put another way, a group that consists of members that do not share a common ancestor, or a taxon that includes individuals that do not share a common ancestry. The taxon Reptilia is polyphyletic as well as paraphyletic because it includes the crocodiles.
A polyphyletic group consists of organisms but not their common ancestors. This is an artificial group which is based primarily on physical characteristics rather than on evolutionary relationships. An example is "flying vertebrates" which includes birds, pteranodons and bats.
Not sharing a common ancestor.
