Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of or relating to the evolutionary descent and development of a species or other taxonomic group of organisms, especially to gradual change rather than to the branching of taxa.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Pertaining to a race or tribe.
  • In biology, pertaining to a phylum of the animal kingdom, or to the construction of phyla; phylogenetic.
  • In botany, relating to the divisions of the vegetable kingdom viewed genetically; phylogenetic.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to phylogeny; phylogenetic

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective of or relating to the evolutionary development of organisms

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Greek phūletikos, of or for a tribesman, from phūletēs, tribesman, from phūlē, tribe; see bheuə- in Indo-European roots.]

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Examples

  • This is both a phyletic tree and a nested hierarchy.

    A Disclaimer for Behe? 2009

  • Caling the ongoing “evolutionary” history of Intelligent Design cretinism a version of “punctuated equilibria” does a grave disservice to the mendacious proponents of ID, and especially, to invertebrate paleobiologists Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould, whose 1972 paper in which they offered punctuated equilibrium as an alternative to phyletic gradualism still remains an important classic in the scientific literature of evolutionary biology.

    More DI Word Games - The Panda's Thumb 2010

  • Writing over a decade ago, UCLA biologists Laura Maley and Charles Marshall noted how genetic sequence comparisons carried out between different animal phyletic groups can lead to significantly different interpretations of evolutionary relationships depending on which species is chosen to represent each group (Ref 1).

    Building Trees Sequentially 2008

  • UCLA biologists Laura Maley and Charles Marshall noted how genetic sequence comparisons carried out between different animal phyletic groups can lead to significantly different interpretations of evolutionary relationships depending on which species is chosen to represent each group.

    Building Trees Sequentially 2008

  • UCLA biologists Laura Maley and Charles Marshall noted how genetic sequence comparisons carried out between different animal phyletic groups can lead to significantly different interpretations of evolutionary relationships depending on which species is chosen to represent each group.

    Building Trees Sequentially 2008

  • From the article: phyletic groups evolutionary relationships evolutionary tree evolutionary ancestors common ancestor common natural ancestor

    Building Trees Sequentially 2008

  • Remember that creationists were the original critics of phyletic gradualism although, alas, modern creationists tend to miss the fact phyletic gradualism has been dead for forty years, if it ever existed at all.

    CellCraft, a subversive little game - The Panda's Thumb 2010

  • Deyes: UCLA biologists Laura Maley and Charles Marshall noted how genetic sequence comparisons carried out between different animal phyletic groups can lead to significantly different interpretations of evolutionary relationships depending on which species is chosen to represent each group.

    Building Trees Sequentially 2008

  • And here, too, those who resist Gould's attempt to sound so revolutionary as to be contrary to Darwin's phyletic gradualism note that it is only on a geological time scale that such developments as the Cambrian explosion appear to be episodic.

    Scientific Revolutions Nickles, Thomas 2009

  • Invertebrate stocks that colonized Ascension underwent a variety of evolutionary changes including phyletic evolution leading to endemic status, adaptation to subterranean life (Araneae, Pseudoscorpiones, Collembola, and Psocoptera), character release (phorid Diptera), and probably splitting of lineages (speciation) within the island (Isopoda, Collembola, and gryllid Orthoptera).

    Ascension scrub and grasslands 2008

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