noun
BiologyA group of organisms believed to comprise all the evolutionary descendants of a common ancestor.
‘the great ape and human clade’- ‘Species in the two primary clades in the genus tend to be found in different parts of North America.’
- ‘Fossils are often not ancestors of extant taxa, but instead may be extinct sister groups to modern taxa or clades.’
- ‘The same mode of increase has been adopted independently in phylogenetically distinct clades.’
- ‘Was survival of the various clades through various biotic crises just a matter of luck?’
- ‘The monilophytes refers to the monophyletic clade of horsetails and ferns.’
Origin
1950s from Greek klados ‘branch’.
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