CHAPTER 5: MACROEVOLUTION: PROCESSES OF VERTEBRATE AND

MAMMALIAN EVOLUTION
Questions included in web quizzing are marked in bold

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the term for the ordering of organisms into categories, such as orders or families?
a. evolution
b. classification
c. parallelism
d. analogy
e. generalization

ANS: b REF: p. 98 SOURCE: PICKUP

2. Ideally, taxonomic classification

a. reflects evolutionary relationships
b. is based on the presence of acquired characteristics
c. is always based solely on between-species behavioral similarities
d. reflects the current geographic distribution of species
e. is only applicable to nonhuman species

ANS: a REF: p. 98 SOURCE: PICKUP

3. Animals with a nerve cord along the back and gill slits during some developmental stage are called
which of the following?
a. insects
b. invertebrates
c. chordates
d. metazoans
e. underdeveloped

ANS: c REF: p. 98 SOURCE: NEW

4. Vertebrates include all of the following except

a. birds
b. insects
c. amphibians
d. mammals
e. fishes

ANS: b REF: p. 98 SOURCE: NEW

5. Structural similarities shared by species that are acquired by descent from a common ancestor
are
a. analogies
b. homologies
c. acquired
d. uncommon
 e. uninformative of evolutionary relationships

ANS: b REF: p. 100 SOURCE: PICKUP

6. What are structural similarities between species that are based on common function and not on
common evolutionary descent called?
a. acquired
b. generalized
c. non-adaptive
d. analogies
e. homologies

ANS: d REF: p. 101 SOURCE: PICKUP

7. What is the evolutionary process that produces analogous structures called?

a. speciation
b. homology
c. homoplasy
d. founder effect
e. evolutionary systematics

ANS: c REF: p. 101 SOURCE: NEW

8. Which two primary schools of classification are discussed in the text?

a. generalized and specialized
b. organic and inorganic
c. evolutionary systematics and cladistics
d. cladistics and non-cladistics
e. ancestral and derived (modified)

ANS: c REF: p. 101 SOURCE: PICKUP

9. Structural similarities shared by a wide array of distantly related species that are inherited
from a remote ancestor, such as the number of bones in the forelimb, are termed
a. specialized
b. ancestral (primitive)
c. adaptive radiations
d. analogies
e. derived (modified)

ANS: b REF: p. 101 SOURCE: NEW

10. What is the term for traits that reflect specific evolutionary lineages and can be informative of
evolutionary relationships?
a. ancestral (primitive)
b. acquired
c. derived (modified)
d. convergent characters
e. analogies

ANS: c REF: p. 102 SOURCE: PICKUP

11. When assessing evolutionary relationships, one approach is to focus on derived (modified)
characteristics. What is this approach called?
a. taxonomy
b. phylogeny
c. classification
d. cladistics
e. homoplasy

ANS: d REF: p. 101 SOURCE: NEW

12. In grouping organisms together in a cladistic classification, the most important characteristics
are those that are
a. ancestral
b. shared derived (modified)
c. shared primitive
d. analogous
e. homologous

ANS: b REF: p. 102 SOURCE: PICKUP

13. A hypothesis regarding ancestor-descendant relationships that includes a time scale is called a
a. cladogram
b. phylogenetic tree
c. phylogram tree
d. hypogram tree
e. hypoplastic tree

ANS: b REF: p. 104 SOURCE: NEW

14. Unlike a cladogram, a phylogenetic tree

a. includes the dimension of time
b. does not suggest ancestral-descendant relationships
c. is one-dimensional
d. are used by physical anthropologists to identify and assess the utility of traits
e. are used by physical anthropologists to make testable hypotheses regarding relationships
between groups of organisms

ANS: a REF: p. 104 SOURCE: NEW

15. Speciation can occur as a result of all of the following except

a. geographic isolation
b. natural selection acting on populations
c. ecological separation
d. lack of differences in habitats
e. limited gene exchange

ANS: d REF: pp. 105-106 SOURCE: NEW

16. Assigning fossil remains to a particular primate species

a. is an uncomplicated process
 b. requires splitting samples into as many species as possible
c. requires making comparisons to well-known living species of primates
d. can be accomplished only if the species is sexually dimorphic
e. requires not making comparisons to well-known living species of primates

ANS: c REF: p. 107 SOURCE: NEW

17. Morphological variation between individuals within a species

a. may be the product of male/female morphological differences
b. is called interspecific variation
c. is of no concern to anthropologists
d. is unimportant when interpreting the fossil record
e. produces large numbers of identical individuals

ANS: a REF: p. 107 SOURCE: PICKUP

18. A genus may be defined as a group of

a. individuals who interbreed but who are reproductively isolated from other such groups
b. closely related species
c. one or more species that do not differ from each other in basic ways
d. members of the same species
e. individuals more closely related to individuals of another species in another genus

ANS: e REF: p. 108 SOURCE: NEW

19. Grouping contemporaneous species into genera

a. is never a subjective process
b. can be facilitated by identifying which species can interbreed and produce live, though
not necessarily fertile, hybrid offspring
c. is always easy and accurate
d. is problematic and therefore not a common practice of physical anthropologists
e. requires similarities between species in one genus and species of another genus.

ANS: b REF: p. 108 SOURCE: NEW

20. Continental drift

a. had no real impact on the evolutionary history of vertebrates
b. never occurred
c. is the movement of the continents on the Earth’s surface
d. ceased to occur several million years ago
e. occurs only in the Old World

ANS: c REF: p. 112 SOURCE: PICKUP

21. As discussed in the text, long-term continental drift had significant evolutionary ramifications
because
a. groups of animals were no longer isolated from each other by oceans.
b. the distribution of mammals and other land vertebrates were unaffected.
c. geological activities induced volcanic activities which decimated populations of placental
mammals.
d. groups of animals were isolated from each other by oceans.
 e. scientists can map the changes that occurred.

ANS: d REF: p. 112 SOURCE: NEW

22. Which of the following is an epoch of the Cenozoic era?

a. Ordovician
b. Permian
c. Triassic
d. Cambrian
e. Eocene

ANS: e REF: p. 113 SOURCE: PICKUP

23. During the ___________mammals replaced reptiles as the dominant form of land vertebrate.
a. Cenozoic
b. Paleozoic
c. Mesozoic
d. Precambrian
e. Permian

ANS: c REF: p. 113 SOURCE: NEW

24. Development of a mammalian brain requires all except

a. Longer period of growth
b. More intense period of growth
c. Slower development in utero and after birth
d. Social system that ensure ample learning
e. The lack of a “bond of milk” between mother and infant

ANS: e REF: p. 115 SOURCE: NEW

25. The diversification of the mammals occurred mostly during the

a. Pleistocene
b. Mesozoic
c. Quaternary
d. Cenozoic
e. Paleozoic

ANS: d REF: p. 113 SOURCE: PICKUP

26. Mammals, in contrast to reptiles,

a. have larger brains
b. are homodont
c. cannot process a wide variety of foods
d. lack fur
e. are ectothermic

ANS: a REF: p. 113 SOURCE: NEW

27. What does the term endothermic refer to?

a. mammalian tooth shapes
 b. the loss of heat in animals without fur
c. using metabolic activity to maintain a constant internal body temperature
d. staying warm by laying in the sun
e. energy is generated externally

ANS: c REF: p. 115 SOURCE: NEW

28. Endothermic animals include mammals and which of the following?

a. fish
b. amphibians
c. birds
d. all dinosaurs
e. reptiles

ANS: c REF: p. 115 SOURCE: NEW

29. What are Monotremes?

a. marsupials
b. viviparous reptiles
c. egg-laying fish
d. placental mammals
e. egg-laying mammals

ANS: e REF: p. 115 SOURCE: PICKUP

30. In _________, the young are born in an extremely immature state and complete development in their
mother’s external pouch.
a. placental mammals
b. monotremes
c. marsupials
d. reptiles
e. adaptive radiation

ANS: c REF: p. 115 SOURCE: NEW

31. What is the term for the rapid expansion and diversification of groups of organisms into newly
available ecological niches?
a. generalization
b. homology
c. parallel evolution
d. adaptive radiation
e. specialization

ANS: d REF: p. 116 SOURCE: PICKUP

32. The diversification of reptiles facilitated by the evolution of the reptilian egg is a good example
of which of the following?
a. parallel evolution
b. specialization
c. homology
d. adaptive radiation
 e. devolution

ANS: d REF: p. 116 SOURCE: PICKUP

33. The theory that macroevolution proceeds as the result of gradual microevolutionary change
a. is the only explanation of speciation accepted by biologists today
b. is called the theory of punctuated equilibrium
c. has been refuted
d. has been questioned as the exclusive mode of speciation
e. postulates rapid evolutionary change followed by long periods of stasis

ANS: d REF: p. 117 SOURCE: PICKUP

True/False Questions

1. The phyum chordate includes all animals with a never cord, gill slits, and supporting cord along the
back.
ANS: True REF: p. 98 SOURCE: PICKUP

2. Study of the Hox genes indicates that it takes hundreds of mutations to lead to diversification of the
basic vertebrate limb structure.

ANS: False REF: p. 100 SOURCE: PICKUP

3. Cladistics is an approach to classification that makes evolutionary interpretations based solely on

shared ancestral characters.

ANS: False REF: p. 102 SOURCE: PICKUP

4. Cladistic analysis makes no attempt to discern ancestor-descendant relationships.

ANS: True REF: p. 102 SOURCE: PICKUP

5. Sexual dimorphism refers to reproductive differences among mammal species.

ANS: False REF: p. 107 SOURCE: PICKUP

6. The Cenozoic era is considered the age of mammals due to the vast diversification that took place.

ANS: True REF: p. 113 SOURCE: PICKUP

7. The variation that exists among individuals within a species is termed interspecific variation.

ANS: False REF: p. 107 SOURCE: PICKUP

8. Vertebrate fossils are found as far back as the Paleozoic.

ANS: True REF: p. 111 SOURCE: PICKUP

9. During the Paleozoic era, reptiles were the dominant land vertebrates.

ANS: False REF: p. 113 SOURCE: PICKUP

10. The mammals achieved rapid evolutionary success because they possessed several characteristics
related to learning and general behavioral flexibility.

ANS: True REF: p.113 SOURCE: PICKUP

11. Epochs are categories of geological time ; the Cenozoic contains seven.

ANS: True REF : p. 113 SOURCE: NEW

12. Much of what we know about the history of life comes from studying fossils.

ANS: True REF : p. 109 SOURCE: NEW

Short Answer Questions

1. Define analogous and homologous traits and provide an example of each.
ANS: Will vary REF: p. 99-100 SOURCE: PICKUP

2. Contrast ancestral traits with derived traits.

ANS: Will vary REF: p. 101-102 SOURCE: PICKUP

3. Why is geographic isolation important to the process of speciation?

ANS: Will vary REF: p. 105 SOURCE: PICKUP

4. What are the influences of long-term continental drift on the evolution of terrestrial life forms?
ANS: Will vary REF: p. 112-113 SOURCE: PICKUP

5. Explain the geological time scale and the various emergence of life forms during the three main eras.
ANS: Will vary REF: pp. 113 SOURCE: PICKUP

6. Define the term “adaptive radiation” and why it is important to the principle of evolution.
ANS: Will vary REF: pp. 115-116 SOURCE: NEW

7. What does it mean to say that evolutionary processes can be both microevolution and
macroevolution?
ANS: Will vary REF: p. 117 SOURCE: NEW

Essay Questions
1. Contrast the two schools of taxonomy: evolutionary systematics and cladistics.
ANS: Will vary REF: p. 101-102 SOURCE: PICKUP

2. Define “species” and the biological species concept. Why is the latter the one preferred by most
biologists?
ANS: Will vary REF: p. 105-106 SOURCE: NEW
3. When scientists assign fossil remains to genera and species, they must first assess the variation
present in the fossil sample to determine its biological significance. What are the sources of
morphological variation in fossil samples?
ANS: Will vary REF: p. 106 SOURCE: PICKUP

4. Explain the difference between generalized and specialized characteristics. What are examples of
each in terms of the adaptive potential?
ANS: Will vary REF: p. 116-117 SOURCE: NEW

5. Give an overview of the modes of evolutionary change, including both microevolution and
macroevolution. Why does the textbook author indicate that the major differences between the two
seem to be one of scale?
ANS: Will vary REF: p. 117-118 SOURCE: NEW