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Multiple Choice
Which of the following groups of vertebrates would contain the least related animals?
A
A group containing three different species of birds
B
A group containing three different species of mammals
C
A group containing a fish, a bird, and a mammal
D
A group containing three different species of reptiles
Verified step by step guidance
1
Step 1: Understand the concept of relatedness in biology. Relatedness refers to how closely organisms are connected in terms of evolutionary lineage. Organisms that share a more recent common ancestor are considered more closely related.
Step 2: Analyze the groups provided in the problem. Groups containing species from the same class (e.g., birds, mammals, reptiles) are more closely related because they share a more recent common ancestor within their class.
Step 3: Compare the evolutionary relationships of the groups. For example, three species of birds belong to the class Aves, three species of mammals belong to the class Mammalia, and three species of reptiles belong to the class Reptilia. These groups are more closely related within their respective classes.
Step 4: Evaluate the group containing a fish, a bird, and a mammal. These organisms belong to different classes: fish (class Actinopterygii or Chondrichthyes), bird (class Aves), and mammal (class Mammalia). They are less related because their evolutionary divergence occurred much earlier, separating them into distinct classes.
Step 5: Conclude that the group containing a fish, a bird, and a mammal would contain the least related animals, as they belong to different classes and have more distant evolutionary relationships compared to the other groups.