Chapter 26

Question 1

Similarity between two species that is due to a convergent evolution rather than to descent from a common ancestor with the same trait

Answer 1

Analogy

Question 2

The evolutionary history of a species or group of related species

Answer 2

Phylogeny

Question 3

The transfer of genes from one genome to another through mechanisms such as transposable elements, plasmid exchange, viral activity, and perhaps fusions of different organisms

Answer 3

Horizontal gene transfer

Question 4

The two-part Latinized name of a species, consisting of the genus and specific epithet

Answer 4

Binomial

Question 5

Homologous genes that are found in different species because of speciation

Answer 5

Orthologous genes

Question 6

System of classification of organisms based on the evolutionary relationships; only groups that include a common ancestor and all of its descendants are named

Answer 6

PhyloCode

Question 7

A method for estimating the time required for a given amount of evolutionary change based on the observation that some reason appear to evoke at constant rights

Answer 7

Molecular clock

Question 8

An approach to systematics in which organisms are placed into groups called clades primarily on common descent

Answer 8

Cladistics

Question 9

An evolutionary novelty that is unique to a particular clade

Answer 9

Shared derived character

Question 10

A specific discipline that uses nucleic acid’s or other molecules in different species to infer evolutionary relationships

Answer 10

Molecular systematics

Question 11

The hypothesis that much evolutionary change in genes and proteins has no effect on fitness and therefore is not influenced by Darwinian natural selection

Answer 11

Neutral theory

Question 12

A scientific discipline focused on classifying organisms and determining their evolutionary relationships

Answer 12

Systematics

Question 13

Pertaining to the group of taxa that consists of a common ancestor and all its descendants. One of these taxon is equivalent to a clade.

Answer 13

Monophyletic

Question 14

As applied to systematics, principle that states when considering multiple phylogenetic hypotheses, one should take into account the hypothesis that reflects the most likely sequence of evolutionary events, given certain rules about how DNA changes over time

Answer 14

Maximum likelihood

Question 15

A branching diagram that represents a hypothesis about the evolutionary history of a group of organisms

Answer 15

Phylogenetic tree

Question 16

Groups of organisms that share an immediate common ancestor and hence are each other’s closest relatives

Answer 16

Sister taxa

Question 17

Homologous genes that are found in the same genome as a result of gene duplication

Answer 17

Paralogous genes

Question 18

In a phylogenetic tree, a branding point from which more than two descendent taxa emerge. This indicates that the evolutionary relationships among the descendent taxa are not yet clear.

Answer 18

Polytomy

Question 19

An approach in which features shared by two groups of organisms are predicted (by parsimony) to be present in the common ancestor and all of its descendants

Answer 19

Phylogenetic bracketing

Question 20

A character, shared by members of a particular clade, that originated in an ancestors that is not a member of that clade.

Answer 20

Shared ancestral character

Question 21

A principle that states that when considering multiple explanations for an observation, one should first investigate the simplest explanation that is consistent with the facts

Answer 21

Maximum parsimony

Question 22

A species or group of species from evolutionary lineage that is known to have diverge before the lineage the contains the group of species being studied. This is selected so that its members are closely related to the group of species being studied, but not as closely related as any study-group members are to each other.

Answer 22

Outgroup

Question 23

A scientific discipline concerned with naming and classifying the diverse forms of life

Answer 23

Taxomy

Question 24

A group of species that includes an ancestral species and all its descendants

Answer 24

Clades

Question 25

Similar (analogous) structure or molecular sequence that has evolved independently in two species

Answer 25

Homoplasies

Question 26

Representation on the phylogenetic tree of the divergence of two or more taxa from a common ancestor. Most of these are shown as dichotomies, in which a branch representing the ancestral lineage splits into two branches one for each of the two descendant taxa.

Answer 26

Branch points

Question 27

Pertaining to a group of taxa that consists of a common ancestor and some, but not all, of its descendants

Answer 27

Paraphyletic

Question 28

A species or group of species whose evolutionary relationships we seek to determine

Answer 28

Ingroup