Chapter 4 Phylogeny - evolutionary history of a species. Phylogenetic trees - graphical summary of the history.

. o Describes the pattern of events that occurred as a specie diversified. o Records the sequences that the lineages approved. o Shows which taxa1 are most closely or distantly related. Tip - extant species Root - common ancestor Branches - trace history Nodes - where one species split into two Slashes - indicate transitions o No direct data - inferred indirectly from data o Logic - the most closely related taxa1 should have the most traits in common o Types of characters Sequence of nucleotides Skeletal elements (presence or absence) Flower parts Mode of embryonic development or larval development o Traits Must be independent of each other Must be homologous2 o Synapomorphies - shared traits because they arise from a common ancestor and are homologous2 and may be modified. Shared, derived, traits I.D. Branch points Are nested Each branch event adds one or more shared derived trait as you go from root to tip. Cladistics - classifying on basis of historical sequence of divergent events Cladogram - same as a plyogenetic tree. Hard to determine which traits are homologous. Problem of Homoplasy - similarity in characters found in different species that is due to convergent evolution or reversal o Convergent evolution - these organisms form the same type of structure because they are solutions to problems imposed by similar environments, but they arise in different lineages. Analogous structures - ex. Flippers on penguin (bird) and seals (mammal). o Reversal - revert to an old ancestral form How to determine
1 2

Taxon - any named group of organisms (a genus, family, order) Homology - similarity in traits due to descent from a common ancestor.

o Look at more than one trait on in group o Law of parsimong - using criteria that gives the simplest explaination. Whale Whales, dolphin, and porpoises - no posterior limbs o Oldest fossils in homologous - 53 mya o Represent amphibians - mesonychians Ungulates o Perissodactyls - horse and rhino o Artiodactyls - cow, deer, hippo, pig, peccary, camel Monophyletic group - all organisms have a common ancestor and there are no other ancestor from that common ancestor.