Abstract
Willi Hennig's work has had a profound impact on how we conceive biological systematics and evolution today (Wheeler et al., 2013; Williams et al., 2016). In attempt to establish a novel philosophical and theoretical foundation for systematics, as well as improving its scientific standing, Hennig created new concepts (e.g., autapomorphy, synapomorphy, symplesiomorphy, and semaphoront) and redefined old ones (e.g., monophyly, phylogeny, and relationship) (Rieppel, 2003). Regarding, therefore, the theoretical and practical significance of these concepts and the biological patterns related to them, my main purpose in this letter is eliminating redundancy and increasing precision in the description of the patterns of character evolution in phylogenies, i.e., apomorphy and plesiomorphy. In this way, I (1) endorse the need of a conceptual distinction among autapomorphy, synapomorphy, metapomorphy, and homoplasy, and symplesiomorphy and metaplesiomorphy; (2) introduce the concepts of metapomorphy and metaplesiomorphy within the language of phylogenetic systematics; (3) reinterpret the concept of hemiplasy; and (4) justify why that conceptual distinction is necessary by taking into account its general applicability in theoretical and practical issues of systematics and evolution.
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