Final answer:
The terms 'Clade' and 'monophyletic taxon' mean the same thing, referring to a group that includes an ancestor and all of its descendants. Both are key concepts in cladistics for describing phylogenies. The correct option is C.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question is asking to identify which pair of terms mean the same thing. The correct answer is C. Clade; a monophyletic taxon.
A clade, also known as a monophyletic taxon, is a group of organisms that includes an ancestor and all of its descendants and is a fundamental concept in cladistics used to organize homologous traits to describe phylogenies. On the other hand, parsimony in phylogenetics refers to the principle that the simplest explanation of an event or pattern is preferred.
This concept is related to the principle of maximum parsimony used to hypothesize evolutionary relationships, suggesting the path with the fewest evolutionary changes is the most likely.