A clade is a group of organisms that consists of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants.
These terms in biology contain no judgement about the sophistication, superiority, value or adaptiveness of the named trait.
Evolutionary relatedness between living species can be connected by descent from common ancestry.
[1] These evolutionary lineages can thereby be portrayed through a phylogenetic tree, or cladogram, where varying relatedness amongst species is evidently depicted.
Cladograms allow scientists to propose their evolutionary scenarios about the lineage from a primitive trait to a derived one.
The technical terms are considered preferable because they are less likely to convey the sense that the trait mentioned is inferior, simpler, or less adaptive (e.g., as in non-vascular ("lower") and vascular ("higher") plants).
Using "primitive" and "advanced" may lead to "ladder thinking" (compare the Latin term scala naturae 'ladder of nature'),[8] which is the thought that all species are evolving because they are striving toward supremacy.