Draft:Cladotherian

Cladotherians are therians whose identity encompasses an entire species taxon, rather than just a single species. The taxon can be as specific a single genus, and in theory as broad as an entire order or class. A cladotherian's identity can also include extinct members of a taxon. Some feel that their identity extends into mythical and fictional versions of their taxon, or contains something of the archetypal essence of their taxon in general.

Experiences

Most cladotherians describe their cladistic identity as being a single theriotype, and reject being called polytherians on this basis. These people may feel that their theriotype is the overarching "essence" of all the species it pertains to. However, some cladotherians do feel that they have many discrete theriotypes. Some feel their identity is a combination of these two perspectives. A cladotherian may not identify as every species in their taxon equally as strongly, and some have a few species they considered to be most representative of their feelings.

Cladotherians typically experience shifts to many or all of the members of their taxon. The specific species can change from day to day, or moment to moment. Phantom and mental shifts will feel subtly different between the various species.

It may take cladotherians some time to conclude or accept that their identity is not limited to a specific species. A questioning person may believe they are simply having a hard time narrowing their exact species down, or that they just experience frequent cameo shifts. They may attempt to settle as one or a few species, but still feel like something is off. Velvet Wings, a feline cladotherian, also describes dismissing the possibility initially because of the poor reputation the label had at the time.

Some spiritual cladotherians believe their experience is explained by having numerous past lives as various members of their taxon.

History & etymology

The word 'cladotherian' was coined by Mokele, who identified as all reptile species. House of Chimeras finds records of the term in use on the forum as early as 2003, and Velvet Wings reports that he saw the term in 1998 or 1999. The 'clado-' prefix refers to taxonomic clades; these are self-contained groups on the evolutionary tree.

Writing on trends in describing one's therianthropy at the time, Keller states that the term was "fiercly rejected" to begin with. They describe two primary objections they saw: people believed that no terms more specific than 'therian' were necessary, and that identifying as an entire taxon was not possible. Velvet Wings similarly states that using the term was seen as a "copout".

House of Chimeras wrote in 2021 that the experience was still uncommon and infrequently discussed.

Issues

As cladotherianthropy is most commonly defined, a person must identify as every single species within a taxon to fall under the label. However, some people contest this. Swift, a musteloid cladotherian, asserts that most cladotherians, in practise, do not identify as every species in their clade.

Taxonomic ranks can be imperfect tools for describing a person's cladotype. For example, there may be no term for the set of species encapsulated by one's identity even if those species form a coherent group. Additionally, species are frequently reclassified as DNA analysis reveals more about their relation to each other. House of Chimeras constructs the example of a Canis cladotherian needing to reformulate their identity after it was discovered that dire wolves are not closely related to other wolf-like canids. They question whether it would be necessary for this person to now see themselves as a Canis cladotherian and a dire wolf therian separately, even if nothing about how they experience themself has changed.

Outside of therianthropy

People have attempted to apply the clado- concept to mythical and fictional species, but the original term's dependence on taxonomy makes this difficult.