Pronunciation: KLA-do-gram

Etymology: Cladogram is fromed from two Greek root that mean branch (klados, κλάδος) and what is written or drawn (gramma, γράμμα).

A cladogram is the full collection of clades (the whole tree) generated by an algorithm from the Character X Taxon Matrix.

Note the cladogram of dinosurian lineages. Birds are the clade that includes the taxa Arctocanthosaurus and Deinonychus.

Illustration by Ed Heck

By Jack R. Holt. Last revised: 01/02/2009