After Reading This Chapter, You Should Be Able to Answer These Questions:
What is taxonomy? What were Linnaeus's contributions to taxonomy? |
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On what philosophical principle was Linnaean taxonomy based? On what principle or principles is modern biological taxonomy based? |
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What do the terms convergence and parallelism refer to? |
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What is the difference between homologous features and homoplastic features? What are the four kinds of homoplasy? |
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What is cladistics? |
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What are some of the distinguishing features of animals compared with plants, chordates compared with other animal phyla, vertebrates compared with other chordates, and mammals compared with other vertebrates? |
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On what basis are mammals divided into subgroups? What is the relationship of the primates to the other kinds of mammals? |