Phylogenetics Trivia Quiz

Answer: The study of the evolutionary development of a population of organisms.

The correct answer is the study of an organism's evolutionary development. Essentially, phylogenetics takes into account the ancestors of an organism, its genetics, and its derived traits. Sounds pretty nerdy to some, but it's pretty cool to others. A phylum is a clade (a clade is any group of organisms: kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species or 'King Philip Called Olivia For Great Sex'), which does pertain to phylogenetics, but is not the best answer.

A system of naming organisms is actually the Linnean system, named after Carl von Linne. This is (more or less) the format that is used for all species names (specifically, the binomial name system: Genus species). Finally, coprophagy is the ingestion of one's own faeces (poo). This is practiced by organisms such as the rabbit and the koala, primarily to maintain the commensal bacteria that help break down the cellulose in their food (plants).

Answer: A group that descends from a common ancestor.

Yes, this grouping does exist! Monogamy is practiced by many animals, but is unrelated (except for the prefix). Asexual mating has nothing to do with the question, but is the term for organisms that divide to reproduce (several types of invertebrates do reproduce in this manner).

Answer: Humans are derived from all of these clades.

Yes, it's true, all of these groups are along mankind's evolutionary tree. lobe-finned fish are theorised to be the first group to journey onto land and became tetrapods. Placental mammals are all mammals that birth live young, and have gestation within the organism with a placenta. Finally, primates are. . . well, primates, and include gibbons, siamangs, baboons, orang-utans, and gorillas, oh, and mankind, of course.

A favourite food of orang-utans is the durian, also called the 'King of Fruits.' This thing is has major spikes, kind of like a coconut crossed with a mace! The flesh inside is textured almost like custard.

Answer: Phylogenetic trees and cladograms: these show the links between organisms and their development.

Well, they're not REALLY trees! Trees are employed by most scientists. These allow an expanding set of traits, while showing a progression towards a set of organisms (most trees would go from generalists to more specialised creatures). One of the early incarnations of phylogenetic representation was not unlike a venn diagram! Graphs would become extremely convoluted, and wouldn't be able to represent the full scope of changes.

While 3-D models are necessarily bad, they are an over complication of the concept.

The third dimension is, typically, unnecessary.

Answer: Crocodiles (crocodylomorpha)

While it is uncertain whether birds evolved from dinosaurs, crocodiles, or are another radiation of archosaurs, the only LIVING relative is the crocodiles. Yes, birds are, relatively, close relatives of crocodiles. Reptiles are a paraphyletic group (meaning that the grouping is scientifically false, and encompasses a mosaic of different groups). Birds are actually contained WITHIN the groups that are associated with reptiles (dinosaurs, lizards, crocodiles). Just an example of a misleading common grouping, the lack of a scientific name should have given it away!

The Jesus lizard or basilisk (Basiliscus plumifrons) was given the name Jesus lizard for its ability to run across water. Pretty incredible to see.

Answer: Encompasses descendants from unrelated ancestors.

If they had evolved from the SAME ancestor, than it would be a monophyletic group. This grouping does exist, it is still applicable, and it is used to describe a group of organisms that usually display convergent evolution. Translation: these groupings are often used to collect organisms that show similar traits and adaptations.

Answer: Hylobatini: eg. gibbons and siamangs

The hylobatini are the only group that descends from the same most recent common ancestor. All the others exhibit convergent evolution in some trait or another. Insectivores eat insects, but are clearly from different groups. The two moles listed as examples developed completely independently, yet they share many similar traits. Similar spade-like forelimbs, reduced eyes, and even a similar colour fur in some species! The term pachyderm was previously used to describe a wide variety of organisms, but is now obsolete. The term edentate is often used to describe organisms that lack teeth.

Both the armadillo and the pangolin have scale-like armor, but each evolved this armoring independently.

Answer: The development of an organism with the least number of evolutionary changes is usually the correct one.

This is the theory that the evolutionary tree with the fewest number of changes is most likely to be the correct one. This suggests that creatures are less likely to adapt a certain trait several times (eg. adapt eyes, then lose eyes, then re-adapt them over their development). This is extremely relevant to phylogenetics.

Answer: Strepsirrhini.

Strepsirrhines are considered the most 'primitive' (in quotes because it's a relative term, generally relative to humans, but these organisms are adapted and developed for what they do) of the primates. They are primarily nocturnal and include the Malagasy primates (those primates that live on Madagascar), such as lemurs. All organisms with a 'skull' belong to the clade Craniata. All those with a vertebral column, eg. a spine, are Vertebrata. Finally, amniotes lay special eggs with an amnion membrane, along with several other defining features.

Answer: Mammalia.

Monotremes are mammals, and pretty cool ones at that. Fossil evidence suggests that the monotremes originated, not in Australia, but in South America, and dispersed into Australia when the two were connected as Gondwana (NOT Gondwanaland!). Pretty awesome. If you are interested, you can check out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obdurodon

Which gives a decent summary of it all (I know, I know, it's no authority, but accessibility outweighs its unreliable nature).

I hope you enjoyed my first quiz. Please provide me with feedback so I can come back and fix this. The field is always changing, and I'm bound to have gotten SOMETHING wrong!

Have a good day/night/evening/morning/afternoon. . . ad nauseum.