Simplified Tree of Mitochondrial Haplogroups

Note that unlike the Y-Chromosome Haplogroups the ones for the Mitochondrial DNA are not related in a simple way to alphabetical order. This is due to the historical nature of their definition. The native American groups A, B, C, and D were put together alphabetically. They are, as seen above, not closely related in the tree, M, N, and R are called “superhaplogroups” as indicated. Note that M and N are in fact somewhat heterogenous.