The Three Major Clades of Life - The Base of the Tree of Life



 

The monophyly of the Archea is very much in dispute at this time. There are two or three recognized monophyletic groups within the Archea (Korarchaeota, Crenarchaeota, Euryarchaeota) and the dispute centers on where these groups go in the tree. The conservative alternatives would be (Taken from the TREE OF LIFE):

The "archaea tree":

     ,=============== Eubacteria
     |
     |            ,== Euryarchaeota
=====|  ,=Archaea=|
     `==|         `== Crenarchaeota-Eocytes
        |
        `============ Eukaryotes

The "eocyte tree":

     ,======== Eubacteria
     |
     |  ,===== Euryarchaeota
=====|  |
     `==|  ,== Crenarchaeota-Eocytes
        `==|
           `== Eukaryotes

There are many references at the TREE OF LIFE site on this and you are urged to consult them.
 

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