1. Outgroup: A taxon that is known to have diverged prior to the divergence of the other taxa being studied. It is used to root the phylogenetic tree.
2. Ingroup: The group of taxa that are being studied in order to construct the phylogeny. These taxa are thought to have a closer evolutionary relationship to each other than to the outgroup.
3. Character: Traits or features used to determine relationships among taxa. Characters can be morphological, molecular, behavioral, or ecological. These characters are compared to determine evolutionary relationships and construct phylogenetic trees.
list the three types of characters used to construct a phylogeny
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