Consider the two phylogenies below of five species of related flowers that hold nectar as a reward for their pollinators, five related species of moths, in their spur. The similar pattern of the phylogenies suggests the characteristics coevolved with one another. Which of the following is an accurate statement reflecting the figure above?
A)The flowers and moths experienced the same allopatric speciation events during their history.
B)The flowers and moths coevolved, so that spur-length and tongue-length each evolved because of changes in the other.
C)The flowers and moths cannot co-speciate because co-speciation only occurs in host-parasite relationships.
D)This is not an example of co-speciation. Each phylogeny represents the variation present in each population of the flower and the moth.

Question

Consider the two phylogenies below of five species of related flowers that hold nectar as a reward for their pollinators, five related species of moths, in their spur.  The similar pattern of the phylogenies suggests the characteristics coevolved with one another. Which of the following is an accurate statement reflecting the figure above?
A)The flowers and moths experienced the same allopatric speciation events during their history. 
B)The flowers and moths coevolved, so that spur-length and tongue-length each evolved because of changes in the other. 
C)The flowers and moths cannot co-speciate because co-speciation only occurs in host-parasite relationships. 
D)This is not an example of co-speciation. Each phylogeny represents the variation present in each population of the flower and the moth.

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The similar pattern in the phylogenies suggests coevolution, where the spur-length of the flower species and the tongue-length of the moth species evolved together as a result of selective pressures from one another. Co-speciation can occur in mutualistic relationships, such as the one between these flowers and moths. Option A is incorrect because allopatric speciation does not necessarily imply coevolution. Option C is incorrect because co-speciation can occur in a variety of relationships, not just host-parasite ones. Option D is incorrect because the phylogenies do not represent the variation within a population but rather the evolutionary relationships between species.

Consider the Two Phylogenies Below of Five Species of Related