MrSquiddy74
MrSquiddy74 t1_iy77anh wrote
Reply to comment by Reconvened in Eli5: Why do birds and fish come in such a spectacular variety of colors and shapes compared to other animals? by thetravelman888
Lungfish and coelocanths are more closely related to us than to other fish
MrSquiddy74 t1_iy77s15 wrote
Reply to comment by Unable-Fox-312 in Eli5: Why do birds and fish come in such a spectacular variety of colors and shapes compared to other animals? by thetravelman888
Sort of?
Paraphyletic is saying "everything in this evolutionary branch except these things".
Take reptiles for example. In common usage, it excludes birds, even though birds are a subset of dinosaurs, which are a subset of reptiles.
The exclusion of birds from the reptile "group" makes it paraphyletic.
Also fun fact! The most closely related animal group to birds is actually crocodilians (crocodiles, alligators, etc)