How is Time Shown on a Cladogram?

A cladogram does not explicitly represent time in the same way that a timeline does, as its primary purpose is to show the evolutionary relationships among species. However, the branching points, known as nodes, do suggest a relative sequence of evolutionary events.

Each node indicates a common ancestor from which multiple descendant species diverged. The length of the branches can sometimes provide insight into the amount of evolutionary change or relatedness, but not a specific time frame. In some cladograms, additional information like scale bars or time estimates can be included to give a more explicit time context, but this varies depending on how the cladogram is constructed.

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