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Update: After over five years, the new and improved version is here!
A hypothetical phylogeny based on all current Pokémon (as of January 2017). A few notes:
- Each Pokémon "evolutionary family" is considered to be one species, with each member of that family a different growth stage from the others. So, essentially, this is a universe where almost everything goes through metamorphosis (and can stop the process of metamorphosis if they or their trainers wish to)... Don't think too hard about it. Families with branched evolutions are species whose ontogeny can be dramatically altered through environmental or other factors (with the exception of Beautifly and Dustox, where the similarity between their larvae are the result of Müllerian mimicry).
- The phylogenetic positions of the Pokémon are based on their real-life counterparts. I had to make up new clades for certain Pokémon groups with no close living counterparts, notably the "spectre" clade for Pokémon based on ghosts, fairies, and inanimate objects (descended from amoebozoan-like organisms), the "rock" clade for Pokémon based on rocks, steel, ice, etc. (related to panarthropods), the "dragon " clade for Pokémon based on dragons or are vaguely reptilian but don't closely match any real-life reptile (closely related to dinosaurs), and a "legendary birds" clade for all those bird pokémon that don't match any real-life birds (also includes non-legendary birds such as Altaria, Togekiss, Xatu, Fearow, Dodrio, and Skarmory). Note that the phylogeny of many real life groups, such as teleosts, mollusks, neopterans, mollusks, neoavians, mollusks, mollusks, mollusks, and also mollusks, are currently in a state of flux. A word of caution: I relied mostly on superficial morphological similarities among Pokémon (especially for the made-up clades) and didn't take into account much else (such as stats, breeding groups, etc.) Performing a rigorous phylogenetic analysis of Pokémon using those additional characters may result in an entirely different phylogeny, but I'll leave that to more hardcore fans.
- The fact that Mew is canonically the outgroup to all other Pokémon despite not resembling what we'd expect for the last common ancestor of real life organisms strongly suggests that Pokémon evolution did not proceed similarly to our reality, which undermines the entire exercise of trying to recreate Pokémon phylogeny based on our Earth phylogeny. In the end I conceded to canon by putting Mew as the outgroup, but please remember that this phylogeny should be considered first and foremost "Earth phylogeny with Pokémon" rather than a serious attempt to figure out Pokémon phylogeny in their universe.
- Some Pokémon (listed to the right) are excluded from the main phylogeny because they are unlikely to have shared a common ancestor with "typical" Pokémon. These include Pokémon that come from other dimensions, originated from non-biological sources (e.g.: Muk and Garbodor are said to be toxic waste that gained sentience), were entirely artificially engineered (by humans or otherwise), or are extraterrestrial in origin. Arceus is also said to have independently originated from other Pokémon, so it and its direct creations (the Creation and Lake trios) are also excluded. I only excluded Pokémon whose alternate origins have either been confirmed or are considered highly likely in-universe. For instance, Kyurem has also been rumored to be an extraterrestrial Pokémon, but this claim has been disputed in-universe and thus I still included it in the main phylogeny.
- Vespiquen/Combee, Illumise/Volbeat, Wormadam/Mothim, Salazzle/Salandit, Latias/Latios, Nidoqueen/Nidoking, and Lunala/Solgaleo represent sexual dimorphism among the same species. Mewtwo is an artificially bred subspecies of Mew. Diancie is a mutated Carbink. Phione is only known to hatch from the eggs of Manaphy, thus they are considered the same species here, but the exact nature of their relationship is unknown. Shedinja is considered the same species as Ninjask as it is the shed exoskeleton of the larval form that gains its own consciousness... somehow.
- In this interpretation, legendary Pokémon aren't literal deities, just particularly rare or powerful (or both) and therefore are shrouded in myth.
- I included Huntail and Gorebyss as fish-like free-swimming mollusks with young that resemble more conventional bivalves. Similarly, Octillery is a cephalopod with fish-like young. If that sounds too crazy, check out this sea slug!
- Bisharp is not specifically based on insects, but I thought that it kind of resembled an arthropod. I included it as an ant.
- Gyarados and Milotic are very, very large and derived carp and bass.
- I'm not wholly convinced that Lickilicky is a lizard, but I couldn't figure out where else to put it. In this phylogeny, it's a skink.
- Unfezant is a galliform with highly precocial, pigeon-like young capable of strong flight, similar to real-life megapodes. (In fact, young megapodes are better fliers than adults and can make sea crossings!)
- Venusaur is not a dinosaur. It doesn't remotely look like a dinosaur, and the "-saur" reference is something only present in the English names. I've always thought the Bulbasaur line looked more like aberrant frogs myself. Some have suggested that they're dicynodonts, which is a creative idea but doesn't entirely convince me. Personally, I think trying to shoehorn them as any real life animal is missing the point: their Japanese names are references to how freaking weird they are. So why the position as a basal synapsid? The ear flaps gave it away. (I also decided to make Nidoqueen/Nidoking basal synapsids for the same reason.)
- I went with Golduck being a platypus, and being most closely related to Ludicolo.
- I decided to make Slaking an aberrant sloth with young more similar to conventional sloths. It's more interesting that way.
- Exploud, Wigglytuff, and Audino are aberrant lagomorphs. Even Exploud, yes.
- I just went with Shaymin being a hedgehog that can change into a decidedly non-hedgehog-like forme.
- Took a while to decide whether Kyogre was a whale or what. Stuck with whale in the end.
- Entei and Raikou are felids, while Suicune is a basal canid.
- Bewear is an ailurid rather than a bear. Check out that tail!
- Similarly to Slaking, I went with Samurott being a large, aberrant sea otter. More interesting that way.
- Disclaimer: The little Pokémon icons come from Bulbapedia and don't belong to me.
Special thanks to
for suggestions that improved the updated edition!
A hypothetical phylogeny based on all current Pokémon (as of January 2017). A few notes:
- Each Pokémon "evolutionary family" is considered to be one species, with each member of that family a different growth stage from the others. So, essentially, this is a universe where almost everything goes through metamorphosis (and can stop the process of metamorphosis if they or their trainers wish to)... Don't think too hard about it. Families with branched evolutions are species whose ontogeny can be dramatically altered through environmental or other factors (with the exception of Beautifly and Dustox, where the similarity between their larvae are the result of Müllerian mimicry).
- The phylogenetic positions of the Pokémon are based on their real-life counterparts. I had to make up new clades for certain Pokémon groups with no close living counterparts, notably the "spectre" clade for Pokémon based on ghosts, fairies, and inanimate objects (descended from amoebozoan-like organisms), the "rock" clade for Pokémon based on rocks, steel, ice, etc. (related to panarthropods), the "dragon " clade for Pokémon based on dragons or are vaguely reptilian but don't closely match any real-life reptile (closely related to dinosaurs), and a "legendary birds" clade for all those bird pokémon that don't match any real-life birds (also includes non-legendary birds such as Altaria, Togekiss, Xatu, Fearow, Dodrio, and Skarmory). Note that the phylogeny of many real life groups, such as teleosts, mollusks, neopterans, mollusks, neoavians, mollusks, mollusks, mollusks, and also mollusks, are currently in a state of flux. A word of caution: I relied mostly on superficial morphological similarities among Pokémon (especially for the made-up clades) and didn't take into account much else (such as stats, breeding groups, etc.) Performing a rigorous phylogenetic analysis of Pokémon using those additional characters may result in an entirely different phylogeny, but I'll leave that to more hardcore fans.
- The fact that Mew is canonically the outgroup to all other Pokémon despite not resembling what we'd expect for the last common ancestor of real life organisms strongly suggests that Pokémon evolution did not proceed similarly to our reality, which undermines the entire exercise of trying to recreate Pokémon phylogeny based on our Earth phylogeny. In the end I conceded to canon by putting Mew as the outgroup, but please remember that this phylogeny should be considered first and foremost "Earth phylogeny with Pokémon" rather than a serious attempt to figure out Pokémon phylogeny in their universe.
- Some Pokémon (listed to the right) are excluded from the main phylogeny because they are unlikely to have shared a common ancestor with "typical" Pokémon. These include Pokémon that come from other dimensions, originated from non-biological sources (e.g.: Muk and Garbodor are said to be toxic waste that gained sentience), were entirely artificially engineered (by humans or otherwise), or are extraterrestrial in origin. Arceus is also said to have independently originated from other Pokémon, so it and its direct creations (the Creation and Lake trios) are also excluded. I only excluded Pokémon whose alternate origins have either been confirmed or are considered highly likely in-universe. For instance, Kyurem has also been rumored to be an extraterrestrial Pokémon, but this claim has been disputed in-universe and thus I still included it in the main phylogeny.
- Vespiquen/Combee, Illumise/Volbeat, Wormadam/Mothim, Salazzle/Salandit, Latias/Latios, Nidoqueen/Nidoking, and Lunala/Solgaleo represent sexual dimorphism among the same species. Mewtwo is an artificially bred subspecies of Mew. Diancie is a mutated Carbink. Phione is only known to hatch from the eggs of Manaphy, thus they are considered the same species here, but the exact nature of their relationship is unknown. Shedinja is considered the same species as Ninjask as it is the shed exoskeleton of the larval form that gains its own consciousness... somehow.
- In this interpretation, legendary Pokémon aren't literal deities, just particularly rare or powerful (or both) and therefore are shrouded in myth.
- I included Huntail and Gorebyss as fish-like free-swimming mollusks with young that resemble more conventional bivalves. Similarly, Octillery is a cephalopod with fish-like young. If that sounds too crazy, check out this sea slug!
- Bisharp is not specifically based on insects, but I thought that it kind of resembled an arthropod. I included it as an ant.
- Gyarados and Milotic are very, very large and derived carp and bass.
- I'm not wholly convinced that Lickilicky is a lizard, but I couldn't figure out where else to put it. In this phylogeny, it's a skink.
- Unfezant is a galliform with highly precocial, pigeon-like young capable of strong flight, similar to real-life megapodes. (In fact, young megapodes are better fliers than adults and can make sea crossings!)
- Venusaur is not a dinosaur. It doesn't remotely look like a dinosaur, and the "-saur" reference is something only present in the English names. I've always thought the Bulbasaur line looked more like aberrant frogs myself. Some have suggested that they're dicynodonts, which is a creative idea but doesn't entirely convince me. Personally, I think trying to shoehorn them as any real life animal is missing the point: their Japanese names are references to how freaking weird they are. So why the position as a basal synapsid? The ear flaps gave it away. (I also decided to make Nidoqueen/Nidoking basal synapsids for the same reason.)
- I went with Golduck being a platypus, and being most closely related to Ludicolo.
- I decided to make Slaking an aberrant sloth with young more similar to conventional sloths. It's more interesting that way.
- Exploud, Wigglytuff, and Audino are aberrant lagomorphs. Even Exploud, yes.
- I just went with Shaymin being a hedgehog that can change into a decidedly non-hedgehog-like forme.
- Took a while to decide whether Kyogre was a whale or what. Stuck with whale in the end.
- Entei and Raikou are felids, while Suicune is a basal canid.
- Bewear is an ailurid rather than a bear. Check out that tail!
- Similarly to Slaking, I went with Samurott being a large, aberrant sea otter. More interesting that way.
- Disclaimer: The little Pokémon icons come from Bulbapedia and don't belong to me.
Special thanks to
for suggestions that improved the updated edition!Image size
1800x9005px 1.4 MB
© 2011 - 2024 Albertonykus
Comments146
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This was a lot of fun to look at. I think it's interesting and I can understand most of the placements. My biggest doubt is in relation to Pikachu, Plusle, and Minun (considering the possibility that they might belong with Lopunny in Lagomorpha due to the front of Pikachu's name and their long rabbit-like ears). A more minor concern is with Kyogre. You said that you decided it was a whale. While I agree that it belongs with Wailord as a member of Cetacea. I consider it to be a dolphin, more specifically an Orca with an unusual color adaptation. Its primal form is even 9.8 m which is coincidentally the length of the largest male orca on record.