page_title: Mandala
section_title: In science
hierarchical_section_title: Mandala / In science
caption_attribution_description: English: Phylogenetic tree of Hexapoda. Hexapoda (insects and their six-legged relatives) comprise more than half of all described species and dominate terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems. The tree shown is from a maximum likelihood analysis of 8 genes, calibrated by 89 fossils. Membership of major clades is denoted by coloration of the ring (grey: Entognatha, black: basal insects, cyan: Palaeoptera, magenta: Polyneoptera, green: Paraneoptera, red: Holometabola). Changes in branch coloration denote diversification shifts identified using TurboMEDUSA. Branch colors identify regions of the tree with the same underlying diversification model. Symbols at shifts denote a net upshift (diamond) or down shift (circle). Coloration of symbols reflects the robustness of the shift event across 500-scaled samples taken from the post-burin MCMC chain (black: shift recovered in &gt;80% of samples, grey with black outline: recovery &gt;50%, grey with pale outline: recovery &gt;30%, pale grey: recovery&lt;30%). Black rings are shown at 100 Ma increments from the present.
context_page_description: A mandala is a geometric configuration of symbols. In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of practitioners and adepts, as a spiritual guidance tool, for establishing a sacred space and as an aid to meditation and trance induction. In the Eastern religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Shintoism it is used as a map representing deities, or specially in the case of Shintoism, paradises, kami or actual shrines.
  In New Age, the mandala is a diagram, chart or geometric pattern that represents the cosmos metaphysically or symbolically; a time-microcosm of the universe, but it originally meant to represent wholeness and a model for the organizational structure of life itself, a cosmic diagram that shows the relation to the infinite and the world that extends beyond and within minds and bodies.
context_section_description: Circular diagrams are often used in phylogenetics, especially for the graphical representation of phylogenetic relationships. Evolutionary trees often encompass numerous species that are conveniently shown on a circular tree, with images of the species shown on the periphery of a tree. Such diagrams have been called phylogenetic mandalas.
caption: Phylogenetic tree of Hexapoda (insects and their six-legged relatives). Such trees have been called phylogenetic mandalas.[42]
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