Deck 10: Taxonomy and Phylogeny of Animals

Question 1

Zoologists used to refer to animals as "simple'' and "advanced.'' Now it is more scientifically accurate to use

A) "simple'' and "complex,'' since it is the complexity that evolved.
B) "allopatric" and "sympatric,'' since the reproductive isolation of the species is most important.
C) "evolved'' and "un-evolved,'' since everything ties together with evolution.
D) "ancestral'' and "derived,'' since some early forms became very complex and some highly evolved forms are derived from them but lost complex characters and secondarily became more "simple".

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Which of the following correctly lists the classic Linnaean ranks for animals,from largest and most inclusive to smallest and least inclusive?

A) Domain-kingdom-phylum-order-class-family-genus-species
B) Domain-kingdom-phylum-order-family-class-genus-species
C) Domain-kingdom-phylum-class-order-family-genus-species
D) Domain-kingdom-division-order-class-family-genus-species

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Homoplasy involves

A) any two organisms with exactly the same trait.
B) two organisms sharing the same trait because they have a common ancestor with that trait.
C) two or more lineages having what appears to be the same trait.
D) possession of homologous structures.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

One way of establishing whether a character of an extant species is ancestral or derived is to locate a/an ______ and if the character occurs in both,it is likely ________.

A) fossil, ancestral
B) fossil, derived
C) sister species, derived
D) outgroup, ancestral

Question 5

_______ character states are present in the common ancestor and all members of a group.

A) Ancestral
B) Analogous
C) Derived
D) Synapomorphous

Question 6

A taxon is paraphyletic if it

A) includes the most recent common ancestor of all members of the group and all of its descendants.
B) includes the most recent common ancestor of all members of the group and some, but not all, of its descendants.
C) does not include the most recent common ancestor of all members of the group.
D) excludes the most recent common ancestor of all members of the group.

Question 7

The scientific name of the copperhead is Agkistrodon contortrix.Therefore,

A) it belongs to the genus Agkistrodon.
B) it belongs to the species Agkistrodon.
C) it is species Agkistrodon, subspecies contortrix.
D) None of the choices are correct.

Question 8

A taxon is polyphyletic if it

A) includes the most recent common ancestor of all members of the group and all of its descendants.
B) includes the most recent common ancestor of all members of the group and some, but not all, of its descendants.
C) does not include the most recent common ancestor of all members of the group.
D) includes the most recent common ancestor of all members of the group.

Question 9

What is character similarity that results from common embryology,and therefore ancestry,called?

A) analogy
B) taxonomy
C) homology
D) phylogeny

Question 10

Who developed the present system of classification?

A) Aristotle
B) John Ray
C) Carolus Linnaeus
D) Charles Darwin

Question 11

A taxon is monophyletic if it

A) includes the most recent common ancestor of all members of the group and all of its descendants.
B) includes the most recent common ancestor of all members of the group and some, but not all, of its descendants.
C) does not include the most recent common ancestor of all members of the group.
D) excludes the most recent common ancestor of all members of the group.

Question 12

The table represents a

A) classification of the frog Rana sphenocephala.
B) phylogenetic tree of Rana sphenocephala.
C) cladogram of Rana sphenocephala.
D) hierarchical list of the taxonomic ranks and taxa to which Rana sphenocephala belongs.
E) listing of the scientific names of Rana sphenocephala.

Question 13

Which of the following is NOT true of a cladogram?

A) It is a branching diagram.
B) It depicts the nested hierarchy of clades within clades.
C) Its structure denotes only real lineages that occurred in the evolutionary past.
D) A cladogram may be congruent with that of a corresponding phylogenetic tree.

Question 14

What is a taxon that comprises a distinct adaptive zone?

A) an ancestral descendant
B) a derived descendent
C) a clade
D) a grade

Question 15

Which is NOT a major goal of systematic zoology?

A) to discover and describe all species of animals
B) to group animals based on their destructiveness or usefulness to human activity
C) to construct the evolutionary relationships among animals
D) to communicate relationships by constructing informative taxonomic systems

Question 16

Characters used to distinguish one group from another must be

A) morphological or structural features.
B) chromosomal or genetic.
C) molecular and cellular structures.
D) Any or all of the above

Question 17

A phylogeny based on evolutionary theory will

A) explain variations among fossils from rock strata.
B) explain similarities and differences among modern living groups.
C) reflect patterns of shared and unique sections of DNA among groups of animals.
D) All of the choices are correct.

Question 18

The ability to use biochemical data to form phylogenetic trees is based on the assumption that

A) all life uses the same sequences of DNA.
B) there are no mutations in DNA.
C) amino acids are unrelated to evolution.
D) protein and DNA sequences undergo similar rates of divergence through time.

Question 19

Which of the following terms is NOT correctly associated?

A) synapomorphy-a derived character shared by members of a clade
B) monophyly-one group formed from animals with two separate ancestors
C) adaptive zone-a way of life
D) cladogram-a nested hierarchy of clades represented as a branching diagram

Question 20

According to the binomial system of nomenclature,the "aegypti" in Aedes aegypti refers to the _____.

A) species name
B) genus
C) family
D) specific epithet

Question 21

To a cladist,the statement that birds (a monophyletic group)evolved from reptiles (a paraphyletic group)constitutes which of the following?

A) a meaningful statement of the evolutionary advancement of the birds over the reptiles
B) a meaningful statement that birds represent a different, but not necessarily more advanced adaptive zone than reptiles
C) a trivial statement that birds evolved from something that they are not
D) an incorrect statement because ancestral groups must be extinct but reptiles are still alive

Question 22

An entomologist discovered that two morphologically identical crickets sang completely different mating songs and this resulted in the two populations never mating.Thus they were

A) sister groups.
B) sibling species.
C) paraphyletic.
D) polyphyletic.

Question 23

If a taxon includes the most recent common ancestor of a group of organisms and all of the descendants of that ancestor,it is termed ______.

Question 24

The dispute between evolutionary taxonomy and cladistics can be described as a difference between

A) use of morphology and use of biomolecular data.
B) acceptance or rejection of paraphyletic groups.
C) acceptance or rejection of monophyletic groups.
D) acceptance or rejection of polyphyletic groups.

Question 25

A branching diagram representing a nested hierarchical pattern of clades is called a/an ________.

Question 26

The biological species concept by Theodosius Dobzhansky and Ernst Mayr defines a species in the textbook as a group of interbreeding natural populations reproductively isolated from other such groups and occupying a specific niche.Such a definition cannot be used for

A) fossils.
B) asexual organisms.
C) determining species based on dead or preserved specimens.
D) organisms that cannot be raised in captivity, easily bred, or with very long generation times.
E) All of the choices pose problems for the biological species concept.

Question 27

Which kingdom in Whittaker's five-kingdom system must be discontinued and broken up to be compatible with cladistic systematics?

A) Plantae
B) Fungi
C) Animalia
D) Protista

Question 28

Which of the following is NOT an important criterion for species recognition among the many definitions?

A) common descent
B) smallest distinct grouping of organisms
C) reproductive community
D) possession of distinct morphological differences

Question 29

G.

A) Only Mayr's definition is easily testable for most organisms.
B) Only Simpson's definition is easily testable for living organisms.
C) Mayr's definition is limited to sexually reproducing organisms whereas Simpson's theoretically covers all life.
D) They are in complete disagreement.
G) Simpson provided a definition of an evolutionary species as "a single lineage of ancestor-descendant populations that maintains its identity from other such lineages and that has its own evolutionary tendencies and historical fate." How does this compare with the biological species concept of Mayr?

Question 30

Two different monophyletic taxa are termed _____ if they share common ancestry with each other more recently than either one does with another taxa.

A) outgroups
B) sister groups
C) sibling species
D) paraphyletic

Question 31

What biochemical trait varies but is present throughout all of life,allowing the construction of an estimate of phylogeny?

A) DNA in the nucleus
B) DNA in mitochondria
C) RNA in the nucleus
D) Ribosomal RNA

Question 32

If two different taxa share common ancestry with each other more recently than either one does with any other organisms,we call them _______ ______.

Question 33

Museum type specimens are kept as "name bearers" for comparison when potentially new species are discovered.However,the original use of type specimens reflected a sense of the "ideal" or "perfect" specimen as seen in the ______ species concept.

A) typological
B) biological
C) evolutionary
D) phylogenetic

Question 34

Which is NOT one of the inherent conflicting features of the biological species concept?

A) A species is both a taxonomic rank and a unit of evolution.
B) The functional definition centers on a sexual ability to interbreed but many species are asexual.
C) A species can be defined with boundaries among present organisms, or within a changing lineage over time.
D) Some scientists disagree over the name of a species.

Question 35

In the scientific name "Didelphis marsupialis Linnaeus,1758," the section "Linnaeus,1758" indicates that the specimen was

A) named after Linnaeus who was born in 1758.
B) named by Linnaeus who was born in 1758.
C) named by Linnaeus and the description was published in 1758.
D) named by Linnaeus and based on a specimen collected in 1758.

Question 36

The time,usually on a larger or geological time scale,that a species exists before it becomes another species or goes extinct is its

A) adaptive zone.
B) reproductive cohesion.
C) geographic range.
D) evolutionary duration.

Question 37

A branching diagram whose branches represent real lineages that occurred in the evolutionary past is called a/an _________ _________.

Question 38

A species of fern that was only found on one small island would be defined as

A) an outgroup.
B) cosmopolitan.
C) speciating.
D) endemic to the island.

Question 39

A derived character shared by members of a clade is a _______________.

Question 40

Which of the following concepts of species is most compatible with the goals of cladistic systematics?

A) typological
B) biological
C) evolutionary
D) phenetic

Question 41

"An irreducible (basal)grouping of organisms,diagnosably distinct from other such groupings,and within which there is a parental pattern of ancestry and descent" describes the ________ ________ _______.

Question 42

If biology moved to a three domain system and attempted to incorporate the five-kingdom system,which kingdom in the current five-kingdom system would have to be split to become monophyletic,and why?

Question 43

Is it possible that systematists are arguing over definitions that cannot possibly reconcile the state of biological reality? Is it possible that there cannot be a single definition of a species simply because there are so many variables that must go into an encompassing definition? Wouldn't it be better to admit to the reality and adjust the reasoning to fit the reality rather than search for the "perfect" definition?

Question 44

"A characteristic reaction and mutual relationship between environment and organism,a way of life and not a place where life is led" is the classical description of a/an ___________ _________.

Question 45

"A single lineage of ancestor-descendant populations that maintains its identity from other such lineages and which has its own evolutionary tendencies and historical fate" describes the _________ _________ _________.

Question 46

Discern what classification and systematization of species means to a taxonomist.

Question 47

What is DNA barcoding of species and why might it be a useful tool for scientists?

Question 48

Species that have very restricted geographic distributions are called ____________________.