bio exam 1 ch 26 quiz

Which of the following statements is accurate with regard to a phylogeny, as represented by a phylogenetic tree?

Descendant groups (branches) from the same node likely share many derived characters.

Which eukaryotic kingdom includes members that are the result of endosymbioses that included an ancient aerobic bacterium and an ancient cyanobacterium?

Plantae

Based on cladistics, which eukaryotic kingdom is polyphyletic and, therefore, unacceptable?

Protista

The most important feature that permits a gene to act as a molecular clock is ________.

a reliable average rate of mutation

In a comparison of birds and mammals, having four limbs is ________.

a shared ancestral character

Which of the following pairs are the best examples of homologous structures?

bones in the bat wing and bones in the human forelimb

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

convergent evolution

The importance of computers and of computer software to modern systematics s is most closely linked to advances in ________.

molecular genetics

Assuming chimps and gorillas are humans' closest relatives, removing humans from the great ape clade and placing them in a different clade has the effect of making the phylogenetic tree of the great apes ________.

paraphyletic

Carolus Linnaeus believed that species remained fixed in the form in which they had been created. Linnaeus would have been uncomfortable with ________.

phylogenies

The best classification system is that which most closely ________.

reflects evolutionary history

The legless condition that is observed in several groups of extant reptiles is the result of ________.

several instances of the legless condition arising independently of each other

Which statement represents the best explanation for the observation that the nuclear DNA of wolves and domestic dogs has a very high degree of sequence homology? Dogs and wolves ________.

share a very recent common ancestor

The various taxonomic levels (for example, phyla, genera, classes) of the hierarchical classification system differ from each other on the basis of ________.

their inclusiveness

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

wolf