Final answer:
Cladistics is a biological approach that groups organisms by shared evolutionary features, facing challenges such as convergence. It is based on the assumption of descent from common ancestors and does not depend on the completeness of the fossil record.the answer is D
Step-by-step explanation:
Cladistics unites taxa based on their shared evolutionary novelties. This approach assumes that living things are related by descent from a common ancestor and that speciation occurs through splits. While cladistics provides a framework for understanding evolutionary relationships, it faces challenges such as evolutionary convergence, where unrelated organisms independently evolve similar traits due to similar environmental pressures. Cladistics also operates under the assumption that the fossil record may not be complete and does not rely on its completeness for determining phylogenetic relationships. The discovery of Archaeopteryx fossils, for instance, supports the idea that species share a common ancestor and can have both convergent and divergent traits.