diphyletic, a. Taxonomy.
(daɪfɪˈlɛtɪk)
[f. di-2 + phyletic a.]
Having two lines of descent; supposedly derived from two distinct sets of ancestors; also, of or pertaining to a classification of groups of organisms in accordance with the view that they have a diphyletic origin.
| 1902 Nature 25 Sept. 526 The ‘Myriapoda’, if a natural group, are diphyletic. 1903 Amer. Nat. Jan. 74 The diphyletic origin of the birds as represented by the Ratitæ and Carinatæ. 1912 Rep. Brit. Assoc. 578 Yet others claim a diphyletic origin for Man from the Apes. 1963 Davis & Heywood Princ. Angiosperm Taxon. ii. 46 A species (or unit of lower rank) derived by hybridisation between two ancestral species..is diphyletic by either definition. |