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Cladistics and Clades

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Cladistics groups organisms into clades, a common ancestor plus every one of its descendants, based on shared homologous traits.

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All descendants of the first amniotic-egg-laying ancestor, including every descendant lineage, together form the clade Amniota.

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A clade must include every descendant of its defining ancestor — omitting even one lineage disqualifies the group as a clade.