Classification Lab

You will be presented with a container of hardware items, which will represent fossil organisms
uncovered in the Detroit, Michigan area. Your job is to make observations about the
morphology (physical form) of these fossils and determine their relatedness.

Identify each item in the collection by common name. Record a detailed physical description of
as many characteristics as possible. Then, make up a super-cool Latin-sounding scientific name.
Scientific names are expressed as “Capitalized genus-space-lowercase species”, and italicized.
You may need to add rows to the table below, depending on how many items are in your
collection.

Common Name Physical Description Scientific Name

tiny nail Linear form, bright shiny metallic appearance, small Pointus minimus
enlarged head, pointy end, 2.5 cm long
small nail linear, darker color, enlarged head, 4 cm Pointus
slighty-larger-tha
n-minimus
medium nail linear, shiny, enlarged head, 5 cm Mr. Personality
large nail linear, dark color, enlarged head, 7.5 cm Pointus enormous
small screw shiny, 2 cm, phillips head Tony
large screw shiny, 4 cm, slaughtered head Dale
Mini bolt .75 cm diameter, shiny, hexagonal shape Paul

larger bolt 1.25 cm diameter, shiny, hexagonal shape Chuck

washer shiny, circular with hole in the middle, 1 cm diameter back of the
kitchenous

lock washer skinny, shiny, bigger hole than the regular washer, 1 cm nose ringous
diameter, not a complete circle, looks like a nose ring

cable staple rustic, fork type shape, even points, pointy, reminds smore’s forkus
me of a smores stick

rubber cable shiny, yellow rubber cover, fork shape, pointy, even rubber smores
staple forkus
Once all items have been identified, described, and named, construct a cladogram, or
phylogenetic tree, showing your best guess as to the evolutionary relationships among your
‘fossils’. At each branch point, you’ll label the derived characteristics that differentiate each
branch.
Use a blank sheet of paper, and construct your labeled cladogram. At the top of each branch,
place the fossil and label it with its scientific name. Take a picture and submit it with your table
above.