polyphyletic
- adjective
- /ˌpɒlɪfaɪˈlɛtɪk/
- Specialized
:
polifilético
- In her biology class, the teacher explained that some animal families are polyphyletic, meaning they come from diverse evolutionary paths.
Examples
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The researchers discovered that the birds in the study were part of a polyphyletic group, having evolved from different ancestors in various environments.
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The scientist noted that the polyphyletic nature of the species made it challenging to trace their evolutionary history.
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Of the polyphyletic group "clueless guys," a significant proportion, maybe even a slight majority, would be helped by more of this, with more explicit steps and guidelines and fewer vague blanket references to using intuition and empathy.
Blog text (16)
Synonyms
54
3.3
Containing many different kinds, not all the same
25
3.7
Made of different kinds mixed together
9
7.9
Made of different types of people or things, like scientists and artists
Developed from several different sources
Parts that are different in form and evolved separately, like butterfly and bird wings
Not having the same origin or form as something similar, for example a bird wing and a bat wing
Having a different origin or structure from something else
From a different species or source than the usual one
Made of many different, unrelated things
A thing that has different kinds of parts
Not the same type of cell or structure
Antonyms
How Polyphyletic
- Specialized
- Specialized
1
9.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
polyphyletic = phyletic (opaque) = poly + phylet + ic
The prefix poly- is clear, but the base phyletic is a technical term that most B1 learners would not know well enough to recover the meaning.
Etymology
Polyphyletic comes from Greek parts poly- meaning 'many', as in polygon, and phylē meaning 'tribe' or 'group'. So polyphyletic describes a collection made of pieces from many different and unrelated origins.