GOAL:

produce a branching diagram (cladogram) that records speciation events from common ancestor to all descendants
examples: liverworts, fossil hominids

ASSUMPTIONS:

• The group is monophyletic: (all descended from a single ancestor)
  (vs. polyphyletic: not related [distantly])
  
• example: fish vs. mammals
• clade: the monophyletic group

PROCEDURE:

• establish characters for each species of the group
  • apomorphic: advanced characters
  • plesiomorphic: primitive characters
  • synapomorphic: shared characters
  • primitive/advanced based on comparison with "unevolved" outgroup
• join species and groups of species at nodes