What is the Difference Between Apomorphy and Plesiomorphy?
🆚 Go to Comparative Table 🆚The terms apomorphy and plesiomorphy are used in cladistics, a field that classifies organisms into clades or groups based on their characteristics. These terms describe the differences between the characteristics shared by organisms and species:
- Apomorphy refers to a specialized or derived character state. It is a unique characteristic or trait that is present in all members of a particular clade or taxon, and it can be used to define that clade. An autapomorphy is a derived trait that is unique to one group, while a synapomorphy is a derived trait shared by two or more groups.
- Plesiomorphy refers to a primitive or ancestral trait. It is an ancestral characteristic or trait present in a clade but does not define the clade. A symplesiomorphy is a shared primitive trait inherited from ancestors older than the last common ancestor.
These terms are relative and can change depending on their position in the phylogeny. For example, a character can be an apomorphy at one branch of the tree but a plesiomorphy relative to all the branches after that.
Comparative Table: Apomorphy vs Plesiomorphy
Here is a table comparing the differences between apomorphy and plesiomorphy:
Characteristic | Apomorphy | Plesiomorphy |
---|---|---|
Definition | A derived character or trait that is unique to a particular clade or taxon | An ancestral character or trait that is shared by a clade and its common ancestor |
Occurrence | Present in all members of a specific clade | Present in a clade but not unique to it, shared by the clade and its ancestor |
Evolutionary Significance | Indicates a novel evolutionary change within a specific lineage | Indicates a primitive trait retained from an ancestral form |
Example | Within the class reptilia, the suborder serpentes (snakes) has an apomorphy because its members have no legs | Within the class reptilia, legs are a plesiomorphy for its members |
Both apomorphy and plesiomorphy are derived from evolutionary relationships and are useful for analyzing characteristics of a clade or a taxon. However, apomorphy refers to a unique characteristic that defines a particular clade, while plesiomorphy refers to a shared ancestral characteristic that does not define the clade.
- Synapomorphy vs Symplesiomorphy
- Homoplasy vs Homology
- Ontogeny vs Phylogeny
- Apospory vs Apogamy
- Apomixis vs Parthenogenesis
- Apomixis vs Polyembryony
- Polymorphism vs Amorphism
- Taxonomy vs Phylogeny
- Agamospermy vs Apomixis
- Haplogroup vs Haplotype
- Cladogram vs Phylogenetic Tree
- Polygenic Inheritance vs Pleiotropy
- Anatomy vs Morphology
- Panmictic vs Apomictic Species
- Epistasis vs Pleiotropy
- Apterygota vs Pterygota
- Apodeme vs Apophysis
- Morpheme vs Allomorph
- Evolution vs Speciation