Chapter 20

Question 1

Phylogeny

Answer 1

The evolutionary history of a species or group of related species.

Question 2

Systematics

Answer 2

Classifies organisms and determines their evolutionary relationship.

Question 3

Taxonomy

Answer 3

The scientific discipline responsible for the ordered division and naming of organisms.

Question 4

Binomial

Answer 4

The two part format of scientific species names.

Question 5

Genus

Answer 5

First part of a species’ scientific name.

Question 6

Taxonomic Groups

Answer 6

genus, family, order, class, phylum, kingdom, domain

Question 7

Taxon

Answer 7

A named taxonomic unit at any level of the hierarchy.

Question 8

Phylogenetic Tree

Answer 8

Branching diagrams that represent evolutionary relationships.

Question 9

Branch Point

Answer 9

The divergence of two evolutionary lineages from a common ancestor on a phylogenetic tree.

Question 10

Sister Taxa

Answer 10

Groups that share an immediate common ancestor not shared by any other group.

Question 11

Rooted Tree

Answer 11

Includes a branch to represent the most recent common ancestor of all taxa in the tree.

Question 12

Basal Taxon

Answer 12

A lineage that diverges from all members of its group early in the groups history.

Question 13

Analogy

Answer 13

Similarity between species due to convergent evolution.

Question 14

Clade

Answer 14

A group of species that includes an ancestral species and all its decendents.

Question 15

Monophyletic group

Answer 15

Consisting of the ancestor species and all its decedents.

Question 16

Paraphyletic group

Answer 16

Consists of an ancestral species and some, but not all, of the decendents.

Question 17

Polyphyletic group

Answer 17

Includes distantly related species but does not include their most recent common ancestor.

Question 18

Shared ancestral character

Answer 18

A character that originated in an ancestor of the taxon.

Question 19

Shared derived character

Answer 19

An evolutionary novelty unique to a particular clade.

Question 20

Ingroup

Answer 20

The group of species being studied.

Question 21

Outgroup

Answer 21

A species or group of species closely related but not part of the ingroup.

Question 22

Maximum Parsimony

Answer 22

Assumes that the most likely tree is the one that requires the fewest evolutionary events.

Question 23

Molecular Clock

Answer 23

Uses the constant rate of evolution observed in some genes to estimate the absolute time of evolutionary change.

Question 24

Horizontal Gene Transfer

Answer 24

The transfer of genes from the genome of one species to another. Caused by the exchange of transposable elements/plasmids, viral infection or fusion of organism.

Question 25

Cladogram

Answer 25

A diagram used to represent a hypothetical relationship between groups of animals.

Question 26

Homoplasy

Answer 26

A character shared by a set of species but not present in their common ancestor.

Question 27

Polytomy

Answer 27

An internal node of a phylogenetic tree in a rooted tree linked to three or more child subtrees or in an unrooted tree and attached to four or more branches.