Q48 - Reading Relationships from a Five-Taxon Cladogram
Study the cladogram given below and indicate if each of the following statements is true or false. The cladogram groups taxa b and c together as a pair, groups taxa d and e together as a pair, joins the (b,c) pair with the (d,e) pair at a deeper node, and joins taxon a to that combined clade at the root, so that a is the first lineage to diverge from all the others.
Figure 1.
Using the information and data, determine which of the statements are true or which are false.
A. The clade containing (d) and (e) is a sister group to the taxon consisting of (a), (b) and (c).
B. The last common ancestor of (b) and (c) descended from the last common ancestor of (c) and (d).
C. Taxon (b) is more closely related to taxon (a) than to taxon (e).
D. The lineage leading to taxon (a) was the first to diverge from the other lineages.
Question reproduced from IBO 2016, Theoretical Paper A, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 - attributed to the International Biology Olympiad. Open the full exam PDF · Community solutions (unofficial)