Monophyletic adj. (Biol.) Of or pertaining to a single family or stock, or to development from a single common parent form; opposed to polyphyletic; as, monophyletic origin.
... as to whether descent was monophyletic or polyphyletic Darwin expressed no dogmatic opinion. "I believe that animals have descended from at most only four or five progenitors, and plants from an equal or lesser number.... I should infer from analogy that ... — Form and Function - A Contribution to the History of Animal Morphology • E. S. (Edward Stuart) Russell
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