Family Trees
What in the world is this diagram?
It’s a family tree!
Family (phylogenetic) trees are used by
geologists and evolutionary biologists to
represent the evolutionary relationships
among organisms.
You can tell which species descended from
others, which species went extinct, and
approximately how long a particular
species has been around for.
How to read a family tree:
Yes you need to draw this diagram!
How to read a family tree:
● Species A started
100 million years
ago and evolved
into its three
current species J,
K, and M
● All the other
species in the
tree died out and
went extinct for
various reasons.
How to read a family tree:
● Species O and P
evolved from species
N, but O was better
adapted and lived
longer than P
● Species J and K are
closer related to one
another than they are
to species M having
evolved from the
same branch in the
family tree.