diphyletic

American

[dahy-fahy-let-ik] / ˌdaɪ faɪˈlɛt ɪk /

adjective

Biology.

of or relating to a taxonomic group of organisms derived from two separate ancestral lines.

diphyletic British

/ ˌdaɪfaɪˈlɛtɪk /

adjective

relating to or characterized by descent from two ancestral groups of animals or plants

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of diphyletic

First recorded in 1900–05; di- ¹ + phyletic

Example Sentences

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All of this work is most detailed and laborious, and has produced a great quantity of data useful to morphologists, but the diphyletic theory is not widely adopted; the evidence adduced for it seems to consist largely of minutiae which, taken by themselves, are inconclusive, or lend themselves to other interpretation.

From Project Gutenberg

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