In phylogenetics, basal is the direction of the base (or root) of a rooted phylogenetic tree or cladogram. The term may be more strictly applied only to nodes adjacent to the root, or more loosely applied to nodes regarded as being close to the root. Note that extant taxa that lie on branches connecting directly to the root are not more closely related to the root than any other extant taxa.[1][2][3]
While there must always be two or more equally "basal" clades sprouting from the root of every cladogram, those clades may differ widely in taxonomic rank,[n 1]species diversity, or both.[n 2] If C is a basal clade within D that has the lowest rank of all basal clades within D,[n 3]C may be described as the basal taxon of that rank within D.[n 4] The concept of a 'key innovation' implies some degree of correlation between evolutionary innovation and diversification.[4][5][6][n 5] However, such a correlation does not make a given case predicable, so ancestral characters should not be imputed to the members of a less species-rich basal clade without additional evidence.[1][2][7][8][n 6]
In general, clade A is more basal than clade B if B is a subgroup of the sister group of A or of A itself.[n 7] In the context of large groups, the term "basal" is often used loosely to refer to positions closer to the root than the majority, and in such cases, expressions like "very basal" can appear. A 'core clade' refers to the grouping that encompasses all constituent clades except for the basal clade(s) of the lowest rank within a larger clade, exemplified by core eudicots. No extant taxon is closer to the root than any other.
^McLellan, Bruce; Reiner, David C. (1994). "A Review of Bear Evolution". Bears: Their Biology and Management. 9 (1): 85–96. doi:10.2307/3872687. JSTOR3872687.
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