Q49 - Polyphyletic and Paraphyletic Groups in Modern Classification
Most taxonomists today believe that biological classification systems should reflect the evolutionary relationships of organisms and taxonomic groups should be monophyletic. However, the classification used today still contains many polyphyletic and paraphyletic taxonomic groups.
Using the information and data, determine which of the statements are true or which are false.
A. Polyphyletic taxa can arise when taxa that are not directly related share similar character states due to convergence
B. If a classification is based on phenotypic similarity, paraphyletic taxonomic groups may result
C. Some taxa in a paraphyletic taxonomic group have phenotypically evolved at different rates compared to closely related taxa that are not included in the group.
D. All molecular data support gymnosperms as a monophyletic taxon.
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)