Question

Why should scientists consider both the adult body plan of an animal and its pattern of embryological development when classifying an animal? Use an example to support your explanation.

Answer 1

Because it is very rare for animals belonging to different phyla to have the same body plans as adults, which makes this characteristic extremely important for classifying living beings.

Step-by-step explanation:

When classifying living beings, it is very important that scientists evaluate the embryological development pattern and body tissues. The embryological development pattern, however, can present itself in the same or very similar way in living beings that belong to phyla or to a different taxon. For this reason, the embryological development pattern alone is not enough for the classification to be efficient and correct.

On the other hand, it is very rare that adult living beings from different phyla have the same body plan. For this reason, it is favorable for scientists to use the body plan and the embryological development pattern when it is necessary to classify living beings.

Answer 2

An important reason why scientists should consider both adult bod yplans as well as the pattern of embryological developments is the fact that sometimes, the adult developed animal looks slightly different as to what we would predict judging just by the embryological development when classifying animals. For this reason, using both enables more precise measurement.