<Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> Cladistics (/ kləˈdɪstɪks /, from Greek κλάδος, cládos, "branch") is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups ("clades") based on the most recent common ancestor . Hypothesized relationships are typically based on shared derived characteristics (synapomorphies) that can be traced to the most recent common ancestor and are not present in more distant groups and ancestors . A key feature of a clade is that all descendants stay in their overarching ancestral clade . For example, if within a cladistic framework the terms monkeys / anthropoidea, animals, fishes / vertebrata and worms / bilateria would be used, these terms would include humans . Radiation results in the generation of new subclades by bifurcation . </P> <P> The techniques and nomenclature of cladistics have been applied to other disciplines . (See phylogenetic nomenclature .) </P>

The kind of analysis that focuses on the evolution of derived characteristics