Practice question

Term phylogeny denoting evolutionary history and genealogical lineage of species through geological time introduced to scientific literature in nineteenth century context of transformism and descent with modification. While Ernst Haeckel popularized phylogeny in 1866 coining ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny and ecology, some textbooks attribute nascent concept to Lamarck early transmutation and later Darwinian framework with common ancestor. It describes branching sequence from ancestral to descendant taxa reflecting temporal succession. Darwin proposed natural selection mechanism, Haeckel phylogeny and biogenetic law, Huxley new systematics. Phylogeny concept underpins construction of phylogenetic trees reflecting common descent central to modern systematic interpretation.