| Palæos: |  |
Phenetics |
| SYSTEMATICS | Phenetics |
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| Palæos: | |
Phenetics |
| SYSTEMATICS | Phenetics |
| Page Back | Page Next | Unit Up | Unit Back | Unit Home | Systematics Glossary | References | Peripatus Home |
Also called numerical taxonomy, Phenetics is a school of taxonomy that classifies organisms on the basis of overall morphological or genetic similarity. This mainly involves observable similarities and differences irrespective of whether or not the organisms are related It involves grouping types together in clusters; types with many close relatives would be in a cluster Unlike cladistics no attempt is made to distinguish between primitive (plesiomorphic) from specialized (derived) characteristics.
A sort of rival to cladistics, Phenetics is pretty much out of fashion nowadays. I have only included it here for the sake of comprehensiveness
A critique of Phenetics, from Glossary
of Phylogenetic Systematics by 
Günter Bechly
"Phenetics: A non-phylogenetic approach to biological classification, founded by CAMIN and SOKAL. It is based on the exclusive criterion of overall similarity, without distinction of plesiomorphic and apomorphic character states. The similarity analysis is generally performed by a computerized statistical analysis (cluster-analysis and nearest-neighbor-joining) of a data matrix with the terminal taxa (OTU's = operational taxonomic units) and a large number of unweighted and unpolarized characters (= Numerical Taxonomy). The false goal of Phenetics was a totally theory neutral and allegedly objective procedure for the generation of biological classifications. Fortunately this anti-biological approach does not play any significant role in current systematic biology anymore, maybe with the exception of microbiology, especially bacteriology..."
