Phylogeny Lesson

If you were building a phylogenetic tree of cats, which of the following would be the best outgroup?

• wolf

• domestic cat

• frog

• leopard

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-2

In a comparison of birds and mammals, the condition of having four limbs is

• a shared ancestral character

• a shared derived character

• a character useful for distinguishing birds from mammals

• an example of analogy rather than homology

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-2

The yellow, blue, and read bubbles represent different phylogenies. How would you describe the yellow bubble?

• monophyletic

• paraphyletic

• polyphyletic

• anaphyletic

Both butterflies and bats have the ability to fly due to wing development. How would you describe the evolutionary relationship of the animal's wings?

• polytomy

• homoplasies

• analogous

• vestigial

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-2

On a phylogenetic tree, what do the branch lengths represent?

• The age of the organisms

• amount of genetic change since divergence

• amount of genetic change since convergence

• The age of divergence

Which protein has the fastest molecular clock?

• fibrinopeptides

• hemoglobin

• cytochrome C

• divergence

What is horizontal gene transfer? (select all that apply)

• the process of chromosome creation by recombination

• increase of genetic variation by meiosis

• injection of DNA/RNA from virus to host

• exchange of transposible elements from one genome to another