Exam 26: Phylogeny and the Tree of Life

Which individual would make the worst systematist? One who is uncomfortable with the

Regarding these sequence homology data,the principle of maximum parsimony would be applicable in

Which of these would,if it had acted upon a gene,prevent this gene from acting as a reliable molecular clock?

Use the following information and figure to answer the questions below. Traditionally,whales and hippopotamuses have been classified in different orders,the Cetacea and the Artiodactyla,respectively.Recent molecular evidence,however,indicates that the whales' closest living relatives are the hippos.This has caused some zoologists to lump the two orders together into a single clade,the Cetartiodactyla.There is no consensus on whether the Cetartiodactyla should be accorded order status or superorder status.This is because it remains unclear whether the whale lineage diverged from the lineage leading to the hippos before or after the other members of the order Artiodactyla (pigs,camels,etc.)diverged (see the figure below). This figure contrasts the "Within the artiodactyls" origin of the whale lineage with the "Without the artiodactyls" origin of the whale lineage. -If it turns out that the whale lineage diverged from the lineage leading to hippos after the divergence of the lineage leading to the pigs and other artiodactyls,and if the whales continue to be classified in the order Cetacea,then what becomes true of the order Artiodactyla?

Some beetles and flies have antler-like structures on their heads,much like male deer do.The existence of antlers in beetle,fly,and deer species with strong male-male competition is an example of

Use the following information and figure to answer the questions below. Traditionally,whales and hippopotamuses have been classified in different orders,the Cetacea and the Artiodactyla,respectively.Recent molecular evidence,however,indicates that the whales' closest living relatives are the hippos.This has caused some zoologists to lump the two orders together into a single clade,the Cetartiodactyla.There is no consensus on whether the Cetartiodactyla should be accorded order status or superorder status.This is because it remains unclear whether the whale lineage diverged from the lineage leading to the hippos before or after the other members of the order Artiodactyla (pigs,camels,etc.)diverged (see the figure below). This figure contrasts the "Within the artiodactyls" origin of the whale lineage with the "Without the artiodactyls" origin of the whale lineage. -One morphological feature of modern cetaceans is a vestigial pelvic girdle.If it is determined that cetacean lineage diverged from the artiodactyls' lineage after the divergence of pigs and other artiodactyla,then what should be true of the vestigial pelvic girdle of cetaceans?

Use the following figure to answer the questions below. Humans,chimpanzees,gorillas,and orangutans are members of a clade called the great apes,which shared a common ancestor about 18 million years ago.Gibbons and siamangs comprise a clade called the lesser apes.Tree-branch lengths indicate elapsed time. -From the above figure,to which of the extant apes are orangutans most closely related?

Your professor wants you to construct a phylogenetic tree of orchids.She gives you tissue from seven orchid species and one lily.What is the most likely reason she gave you the lily?

Morphologically,species A is very similar to four other species,B-E.Yet the nucleotide sequence deep within an intron in a gene shared by all five of these eukaryotic species is quite different in species A compared to that of the other four species when we study the nucleotides present at each position. -Which of the following items does not necessarily exist in a simple linear relationship with the number of gene-duplication events when placed as the label on the vertical axis of the following graph?

If,someday,an archaean cell is discovered whose rRNA sequence is more similar to that of humans than the sequence of mouse rRNA is to that of humans,the best explanation for this apparent discrepancy would be

Since all organisms share a common ancestor,it comes as no surprise that some characteristics are shared while others are not.If we consider the backbone and feathers,respectively,of birds,we can say that the former is a ________ while the latter are a ________.

Which of the following pairs is incorrectly matched?

When using a cladistic approach to systematics,which of the following is considered most important for classification?

If you were using cladistics to build a phylogenetic tree of cats,which of the following would be the best outgroup?

A researcher wants to determine the genetic relatedness of several breeds of dog (Canis lupus familiaris).The researcher should compare homologous sequences of this type of biochemical-________-which can be described as ________.

Some molecular data place the giant panda in the bear family (Ursidae)but place the lesser panda in the raccoon family (Procyonidae).If the molecular data best reflect the evolutionary history of these two groups,then the morphological similarities of these two species is most likely due to

Consider the human arm,a dog's foreleg,and a seal's flipper.These three structures are examples of ________ structures.

Use this figure to answer the following questions. -If the above figure is an accurate depiction of relatedness,then which of the following should be correct? 1)The entire tree is based on maximum parsimony. 2)If all species depicted here make up a taxon,this taxon is monophyletic. 3)The last common ancestor of species B and C occurred more recently than the last common ancestor of species D and E. 4)Species A is the direct ancestor of both species B and species C. 5)The species present at position 3 is ancestral to C,D,and E.

Which kingdom has been replaced with two domains?

Based on this tree,which statement is not correct?