Practice Quiz for Principles

of Classification
No. of Questions= 13
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1. Humans mostly classify animals with their sense of:

a) vision
b) smelling
c) hearing

2. _______________ are similar anatomical features in different species

that do not have a known common ancestor.

a) analogies
b) homologies
c) homologous structures
d) b or c

3. When two species both have similar anatomical structures that were
inherited from the same ancestor that also had them, the similarities
are referred to as being:

a) homoplasies
 b) homologies
c) neither of the above

4. Nonhomologous structures can result:

a) only from convergent evolution

b) from either convergent or parallel evolution
c) neither of the above

5. Nonhomologous structures are:

a) androgynous
b) homoplasies
c) neither of the above

6. In which of the following is the common ancestor the most distant in

the past?

a) parallel evolution
b) convergent evolution

7. It is more accurate to define new species by:

 a) observing breeding patterns of living organisms
b) comparing the appearance of fossils

8. In the Linnaean classification system, the word "genera" refers to:

a) the category just above genus

b) the category just below genus
c) the plural of genus

9. The Linnaean system groups organisms together into the same or

similar classification categories based on presumed:

a) homologies
b) homoplasies
c) neither of the above

10. The wings of a bird and the wings of a butterfly are:

a) analogous structures
b) homologous structures
c) both of the above
11. The three long bones in your arm and in the wing of a bird are:

a) homoplastic structures
b) homologous structures
c) neither of the above

12. The evolution of similar behavioral patterns by some Australian

marsupials and placental mammals living elsewhere in the world is a
result of:

a) convergent evolution
b) inheritance from a common ancestor
c) neither of the above

13. When a biologist narrowly defines species based primarily on minor

differences, he or she is:

a) a lumper
b) a splitter
c) inevitably correct

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