Exam 21: Reconstructing and Using Phylogenies

Suppose a team of biologists discover and describe a species of fish in Mexico.They named it Paraclinus douglasadamsi in a paper published in 2015.A few years later another biologist reveals that the same name had been used to describe a species of fish found in the Bahamas in a paper published in 2006.This leads to a controversy among fish biologists about the species names.How should this controversy be resolved according to regular biological practice?

A particular taxon includes a common ancestor, all descendants of that ancestor, and no other organisms.Accordingly, it is considered to be

Based on what you know about biological classification, "Araceae" should refer to a(n)

Orders are less inclusive than _______ and are more inclusive than _______.

Members of genus X, a hypothetical taxon of invertebrates, have antennae with a variable number of segments.Species A and B each have ten segments; species C and D each have nine segments; and species E has eight segments.In all other genera in this family (including genus Y), all species have antennae with ten segments.Which character state is a synapomorphy that would be useful for determining evolutionary relationships within genus X?

Which species names is not written correctly?

Refer to the figure. Which group is monophyletic?

Refer to the figure showing a phylogenetic tree of immunodeficiency viruses. Based on the figure, which statement is false?

If a group of turtle species can be removed from a phylogenetic tree by a single cut, the group is considered _______.

Which statement about molecular clocks is true?

Studies of female platyfish, whose male counterparts have a variety of tail shapes, show that the females have a preference for male fish with artificial swordlike structures attached to their tails.This observation is most consistent with the

Refer to the figure. The figure shows the phylogeny of seven species of beetles (A- G).The figure also shows whether the beetles have (marked with check) or do not have (marked with an x) one of three stripes.It also indicates the color of the beetle (R for red and G for green).] Based on the phylogenetic tree and the principle of parsimony, The absence of stripe _______ in species _______ is most likely _______.

In systematics and phylogeny, the fossil record is especially important because

Refer to figure. Shown are the phylogenetic relationships among eight species.Red dots show the appearance of derived traits.According to the phylogenetic tree, chimpanzee and perch share _______of the listed synapomorphies?

Which statement about taxonomic ranks is correct?

Which morphological trait would a biologist most likely exclude from use in phylogenetic analysis?

Giraffes are in the genus Giraffa.Their family is named after this genus.Hence, the family name is written

Which statement regarding classification groups is false?

Which scenario presents the greatest challenge to the assumption of a molecular clock?

According to the practices of biological nomenclature, if the same name is inadvertently given to two different species,