Cladistics (/kləˈdɪstɪks/, from Greek κλάδος, kládos, "branch") is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups ("clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is typically shared derived characteristics (synapomorphies) that are not present in more distant groups and ancestors. Theoretically, a common ancestor and all its descendants are part of the clade, however, from an empirical perspective, common ancestors are inferences based on a cladistic hypothesis of relationships of taxa whose character states can be observed. Importantly, all descendants stay in their overarching ancestral clade. For example, if within a strict cladistic framework the terms worms or fishes were used, these term