Exam 23: Understanding Diversity Systematics

Which of the following taxa would be the most inclusive?

A(n) paraphyletic group consists of several evolutionary lines that do not share a common ancestor. _____________________

Scientists are now grouping reptiles with birds and mammals because they are all vertebrates that have a(n):

Systematists use phylogenetic trees to graphically represent hypothesized evolutionary relationships among organisms. _____________________

The number of similarities in certain DNA or RNA nucleotide or amino acid sequences may be used as a molecular clock to indicate how much time has passed since the groups branched from a common ancestor. __________________

Figure 23-2 In the accompanying figure, the taxon labeled II is:

A characteristic that is independently acquired by reversal or convergent evolution exhibits homology . _____________________

The phylogenetic analysis of nucleotide sequences for a group of retroviruses has allowed researchers to discover that there are _____ major types of HIV that originate from one ancestral lentivirus.

The evolutionary history of a group of organisms from a common ancestor is known as:

When faced with multiple possible cladograms, the criteria of ____ is employed.

A taxon that includes all the descendants of an ancestor is called:

Humans, as well as all other mammals, have hair. Hair, then, would be considered to be a(n):

Mammalia is a class the contains many phyla . _____________________

What did R. H. Whittaker base his five kingdom classification upon?

Shared homologous structures would indicate that two taxa are:

Phylogenetic systematics produce branching diagrams called:

A taxon that diverges earlier than the other taxa being considered in cladistic analysis is a(n):

Outgroup analysis looks for features that are shared derived characters in a given group of organisms.

Which example illustrates how "maximum likelihood" is used by systematists?