Definition of "cladogram" [cladogram]

• A branching, treelike diagram in which the endpoints of the branches represent specific species of organisms. It is used to illustrate phylogenetic relationships and show points at which various species have diverged from common ancestral forms. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The data may come from shared characteristics, but a cladogram is a representation of hypothesized evolutionary relationships."
• "Do you understand that every point on every line in a cladogram is a separate species that also has/had the potential of branching?"
• "The cladogram is made by arbitrarily "placing things in the same group," But then, it is * tested* against the evidence."