Construct · 1 fields · 1 citations

polytomy: a standalone construct

One name. One construct. A landmark on the map.

● anchor · a single construct in one field Nearest construct by meaning·not indexed
polytomy1 CONSTRUCTPolytomyMADDISON · 1989

A single standalone construct; nearby constructs are located against it in the Collider. Tap a field for its definition, unit, and measures.

Phylogenetics

A tree node with more than two branches

In phylogenetics, a polytomy is a node on a tree from which more than two lineages descend at once, so the branching order among them is not resolved into a series of two-way splits. A soft polytomy signals that the data cannot yet decide the order, while a hard polytomy claims the lineages genuinely arose together. Maddison's 1989 Reconstructing character evolution on polytomous cladograms worked out how such unresolved nodes affect inferences drawn from a tree. The construct is an unresolved or simultaneous multi-way branching point, the counterpart to the fully bifurcating node a cladogram aims for.[1]

Unit
A branching node with three or more immediate descendant lineages
Recovery means
Not applicable
Measured by
Identified where support fails to resolve a node into bifurcations; distinguished as soft (lack of data) or hard (true simultaneity)

Next

Run it through the Collider, or take the citations with you.

See how polytomy sits against neighbouring constructs in the Collider, or export every reference on this page in one click.

Open in ColliderExport BibTeXReport this entry

Nearby constructs

clade1 fields · 1 citationsanchor · a single construct in one fieldaffect4 fields · 5 citationsjingle · one word, several feeling constructsbranching3 fields · 4 citationsjingle · one word, three constructs

References

  1. Maddison, W. P. (1989). Reconstructing character evolution on polytomous cladograms. Cladistics, 5(4), 365–377. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-0031.1989.tb00569.x

Cited on this page?

Confirm your construct, or correct us.

If your work is cited behind one of these entries, you know better than we do whether we captured the meaning right. Confirm it, suggest an edit, or dispute it, and your name goes on the entry as an author who has checked it, linked to your ORCID.

Claim your construct