Transitional fossils have features that are intermediate between ancestors and descendants.
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Which of the following is a tetrapod?
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an amphibian
a reptile
a bird
a mammal
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Which evidence supports the hypothesis that four-limbed animals came from fish?
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DNA analysis shows that fish are tetrapods' closest relatives.
The fossil record shows more and more tetrapod-like fish before the appearance of tetrapods about 365 million years ago.
Both fish and four-limbed animals are vertebrates.
Fish and four-limbed animals have very similar embryos.
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Why have we NOT found examples in the fossil record of every animal that ever lived on Earth?
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To become a fossil, an animal must remain buried for thousands or millions of years until it (and the layer around it) turns to rock.
Many fossils remain buried. We can only find them when they are exposed by erosion or excavation.
To become a fossil, an animal must be quickly and completely buried in ash or sediment before it has a chance to decompose.
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Why did Shubin and Daeschler search in the Canadian arctic for fossil evidence of the transition from fish to tetrapods?
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They hypothesized that the transitional fossils were in sedimentary rocks older than 365 million years ago, when the first tetrapods appear in the fossil record.
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What kind of habitat did tiktaalik live in?
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Tiktaalik lived in a warm, freshwater swamp.
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Tiktaalik had a combination of fishlike and tetrapod-like characteristics. Which were the tetrapod-like characteristics?
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interlocking ribs
flat head with eyes on top
a neck
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How did the great transition from fish to tetrapod occur?
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The transition occurred gradually over time, so there are many intermediate forms.
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The 150-million-year-old Archaeopteryx fossil has birdlike features such as feathered wings, but it also has characteristics that we associate with living reptiles. Which of the following are considered reptilian characteristics of Archaeopteryx?
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teeth in the jaws
claws on the ends of each digit in the "hands"
long, bony tail
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Which discovery ultimately overturned the prevailing perception that all dinosaurs were large, slow, and lumbering?
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the small theropod dinosaur Deinonychus, which had a large sickle-shaped claw on each of its hind limbs
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Which of the following shared characteristics of living birds and theropod dinosaurs provided support to the hypothesis that birds evolved from dinosaurs?
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birds and theropods have hollow bones that are strong, but light
birds and many theropods have feathers
birds and theropods have S-shaped necks
birds and many theropods have a wishbone (or furcula)
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How did Dr. Jack Horner's discovery of dinosaur nesting grounds support the hypothesis that birds evolved from a group of dinosaurs
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it provided evidence that dinosaurs raised and cared for their young in colonies like many birds
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A key characteristic of modern birds is flight powered by feathered wings. Which of the following pieces of evidence support the hypothesis that the first feathers served a purpose other than flight?
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some feathered theropods were not capable of flight
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Which of the following statements about bird evolution are accurate based on the evidence presented?
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Feathers may have originally evolved for interspecies communication and display.
Feathers may have originally evolved for insulation.
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Why was the discovery of organisms, such as Archaeopteryx, that have a mix of traits usually associated with two different groups considered validation of Darwin's theory of evolution?
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the discovery provided evidence that species descend with modification from other species
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At one time, birds held the same taxonomic rank as Reptilia and Mammalia. Now, however, they are considered as part of the reptile clade. Without this change,
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Reptilia would be paraphyletic
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There are three major groups of mammals, categorized on the basis of their
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method of reproduction
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Vertebrates and tunicates share
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Vertebrates and tunicates share _____.
a notochord and a dorsal, hollow nerve cord
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Most members of which of the following groups are most closely associated with a wet or moist environment?
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amphibians
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The presence of a swim bladder allows the typical ray-finned fish to stop swimming and still
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not sink
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Jaws first occurred in which extant group of fishes?
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chondrichthyans
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Which of the following characteristics is shared by a hagfish and a lamprey?
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a well-developed notochord
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How did the evolution of the jaw contribute to diversification of early vertebrate lineages?
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It made additional food sources available.
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It is believed that the coelacanths and lungfish represent a crucial link between other fishes and tetrapods. What is the major feature in these fish in support of this hypothesis?
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Their fins have skeletal and muscular structures similar to amphibian limbs.
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Which of the following chordates is most likely to look the LEAST like other chordates?
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adult tunicate
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Which of the following represents the strongest evidence that two of the three middle ear bones of mammals are homologous to certain reptilian jawbones?
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These bones can be observed to move from the developing jaw to the developing middle ear in mammalian embryos.
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With which of the following statements would a biologist be most inclined to agree?
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Humans and other apes represent divergent lines of evolution from a common ancestor.
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Which of the following is NOT a diagnostic feature of the Chordata?
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vertebrae
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Chordate pharyngeal slits appear to have functioned first as
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suspension-feeding devices
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Which of the following are the only extant animals that descended directly from dinosaurs?
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birds
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Which of the following characteristics evolved independently in mammals and birds?
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endothermy
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In what respect do hominins differ from all other anthropoids?
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bipedal posture
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Which of these are amniotes?
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turtles
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What group of mammals have (a) embryos that spend more time feeding through the placenta than the mother's nipples, (b) young that feed on milk, and (c) a prolonged period of maternal care after leaving the placenta?
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Eutheria
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What is believed to be the most significant result of the evolution of the amniotic egg?
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Tetrapods are no longer tied to the water for reproduction.
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What anatomical change made depth perception possible?
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location of the eyes at the front of the head
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At one time, Chondrichthyes were thought to have split off from other vertebrates before the evolution of bone. Now we have concluded that the Chondrichthyes split off after the evolution of bone had started. This change demonstrates
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as new evidence emerges, scientists revise their hypotheses
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Which extant chordates are postulated to be most like the earliest chordates in appearance?
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lancelets
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At one time, Chondrichthyes were thought to have split off from other vertebrates before the evolution of bone. Now we have concluded that the Chondrichthyes split off after the evolution of bone had started. This change demonstrate
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characteristics can be lost in evolution
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Mammals and birds eat more often than reptiles. Which of the following traits shared by mammals and birds best explains this habit?
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endothermy
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The diagnostic feature of Chondrichthyes is
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an endoskeleton of calcified cartilage
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The Neanderthal DNA discovered in Homo sapiens is best explained by
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gene flow
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Which of these primate groups is most closely related to humans?
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apes
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_____ are the oldest known primate group.
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Prosimians
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The primates that spend the most time walking upright are the
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hominids
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Which of these anthropoid groups consists of primates who are mostly tree dwellers and whose forelimbs and hind limbs are about equal in length?
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monkeys
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Which of the following anatomical features of the 3.2-million-year-old Australopithecus fossil known as "Lucy" suggest she was a bipedal hominid?
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a much shorter hip bone that is broader from front to back and wraps around the side
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Vertebrates and tunicates have
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a notochord and a dorsal, hollow nerve cord
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Living vertebrates can be divided into two major clades. Select the appropriate pair.
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the cyclostomes and the gnathostomes
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Unlike eutherians, both monotremes and marsupials
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have embryonic development outside the uterus
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Which clade does not include humans?
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diapsids
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As hominins diverged from other primates, which of the following appeared first?
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bipedal locomotion
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Which of the following could be considered the most recent common ancestor of living tetrapods?
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a sturdy-finned, shallow-water lobe-fin whose appendages had skeletal supports similar to those of terrestrial vertebrates
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