Vertebrate Evolution

Match the following chordate groups with their taxonomic class.

• Mammalia

• birds

• Osteichthyes

• reptiles

• Reptilia

• amphibians

• Aves

• mammals

• Amphibia

• bony fish

Read the cladogram. Which animals are tetrapods?

(tetrapod = four legs)

• lamprey

• grouper

• salamander

• wolf

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-2

Read the cladogram. Which animals are least related?

• lancelet and lamprey

• lancelet and wolf

• turtle and wolf

• grouper and salamander

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-2

Categorize the following options. Use the cladogram for clues.

Groups:

(a) mammals

,

(b) fish

,

(c) both

• scales

• bony skeleton

• ectotherm

• hair

• jawbone

• endotherm

• tetrapod

• vertebrae

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-2

Which of the following are true?

• Taxonomic groups describe similarities.

• Taxonomic groups change with new data.

• Cladograms propose evolutionary relationships.

• Cladograms change with new data.

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-2

NGSS.MS-LS4-3

Which parts of the passage can be confirmed by direct observation today?

• Sentence 1

• Sentence 2-3

• Sentence 4-6

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS1-3

NGSS.MS-LS2-1

NGSS.MS-LS2-4

NGSS.MS-PS1-2

Inference is a conclusion drawn by reasoning and evidence.

Which part of the passage depends on inference?

• Sentence 1

• Sentence 2-3

• Sentence 5

• Sentence 6-7

Why was inference required to make the claim that early vertebrates were ectothermic?

• We can't go back in time to observe.

• Deeper layers of rock deposited earlier.

• Anatomy fossilizes, but physiology doesn't.

• Fossils of simple vertebrates are like modern fish.

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-1

Which observations led to the inference that early vertebrates were ectothermic?

• We can't go back in time to observe.

• Deeper layers of rock deposited earlier.

• Anatomy fossilizes, but physiology doesn't.

• Fossils of simple vertebrates are like modern fish.

Which part of this passage depends on inference?

• Sentence 1

• Sentence 2-4

• Sentence 5

• Sentence 6-7

Tags

NGSS.HS-LS4-1

NGSS.HS-LS4-2