Place the fictional specimens at the tips. Make each shared trait a complete clade.
Tap its row in the trait matrix, then a tree tip.
The outgroup stays pinned. Move a placed specimen by selecting it again; occupied tips swap.
Choose a row to select a specimen. Each column is one shared derived trait.
A clade is a whole branch family. A trait’s bearers must include every descendant of one branch, and no outsiders.
Use the matrix to keep every shared trait together as a full descendant clade.
Cladlet’s specimens are fictional. Use their explicit traits to place them at the tips of a rooted branching tree. Each shared derived trait must belong to one complete descendant clade.
● means a trait is present; — means absent. The pinned outgroup has none of these derived traits.
Tap a matrix row or a 3D specimen. Tap a numbered tip to place it. Selecting a placed specimen moves it; occupied tips swap.
A shared trait must cover all descendants of one branch, with no extra organisms. Use the feedback to refine your placements.
Equivalent sibling rotations are accepted. The given branching scaffold and trait evidence may allow several equally valid placements; you do not need one secret tip order.
3 stars: no unsuccessful checks or hints. 2 stars: up to two unsuccessful checks, no hints. 1 star: every completed study. Undo and reset preserve check history and hint use. Your best stars save on this device when storage is available.
A clade includes a common ancestor and all its descendants. Shared derived traits can provide evidence for nested clades, helping biologists form hypotheses about relationships.
Here, each fictional trait arose once and was never lost. There is no convergent evolution in this simplified puzzle. Under that rule, all specimens with a trait must form exactly one full descendant clade.
Rotating sibling branches does not change relationships. A tip is not the ancestor of another tip. Position and drawn branch length do not show evolutionary progress or elapsed time in this cladogram.
The supplied tree is a scaffold for organizing trait evidence, not a claim that these simple observations always reveal one unique real-world phylogeny. Real research uses more evidence and models that can include trait loss and convergence. All creatures here are invented.
UC Museum of Paleontology, Understanding Evolution: Building the tree, Trees, not ladders, and Misinterpretations about relatedness.
Cladlet, the naturalist table, branch pieces and specimen parts are original Blender models. Sound effects: Kenney Interface Sounds (CC0). Runtime: Three.js (MIT). Fonts: Fraunces and Outfit, Google Fonts.
60 studies per course, 180 total. Each study has a pinned outgroup.