Cladistics

From Dipluridae

Cladistics, from the ancient Greek κλάδος, klados, "branch", is the hierarchical classification of species based on phylogenetics or evolution ary ancestry. The term "phylogenetics" is often used synonymously with cladistics. Cladistics is distinguished from other taxonomic systems because it focuses on the evolutionary relationships of species rather than on morphological similarities, which may be convergent evolution, and because it places heavy emphasis on objective, quantitative analysis.

Cladistics originated in the work of the German entomologist, Willi Hennig, who himself referred to it as phylogenetic systematics; the use of the terms "cladistics" and "clade" was popularized by other researchers.

Cladistics generates diagrams called cladograms that represent the evolutionary tree of life. DNA and RNA sequencing data are used in many important cladistic efforts. Computer programs like TNT or PAUP are widely used in cladistics, due to the highly complex nature of cladogram generation procedures.

The following clade shows the cladistics of the family Dipluridae according to Raven (1985):

                                            |-- Diplura
                     |--Diplurinae----------|-- Trechona
                     |                      |-- Linothele
                 |---|
                 |   |                      |-- Ischnothele
                 |   |--Ischnothelinae------|-- Lathrothele
                 |                          |-- Thelechoris
                 |                         
                 |                          |-- Australothele
                 |                       |--|
                 |                    |--|  |-- Namirea
                 |                    |  |----- Allothele
                 |                    |
   Dipluridae----|                    |     |-- Carrai
                 |------Euagrinae-----|-----|-- Stenygrocercus
                 |                    |     |-- Cethegus
                 |                    |
                 |                    |     |-- Euagrus
                 |                    |-----|
                 |                          |-- Phyxioschema
                 |
                 |---------------------------- Microhexura
                 |
                 |                          |-- Masteria
                 |------Masteriinae---------|
                                            |-- Striamea