A shared character is one that two lineages have in common, and a derived character is one that evolved in the lineage leading up to a clade and that sets members of that clade apart from other individuals. Shared derived characters can be used to group organisms into clades.

What are shared derived characters called?

What is a shared derived character called? In phylogenetics, apomorphy and synapomorphy refer to derived characters of a clade: characters or traits that are derived from ancestral characters over evolutionary history. A synapomorphy is a shared apomorphy that distinguishes a clade from other organisms.

What is an example of a derived characteristic?

In our example, a fuzzy tail, big ears, and whiskers are derived traits, while a skinny tail, small ears, and lack of whiskers are ancestral traits. An important point is that a derived trait may appear through either loss or gain of a feature.