Question

The evolutionary tree below shows 13 living species labeled as 'S1' through

'S13'. Use it answer the question: Which 2 species in the tree would you
expect to have the most similarities with each other?

1) S1 and S2

2) S2 and S3

3) S3 and S4

4) S5 and S6

5) S6 and S7

7) S7 and S8

8) S8 and S9

9) S9 and S10

10) S11 and 12

11) S12 and 13

Answer 1

This phylogenetic tree is very poorly made as it try’s to be visually appealing rather than accurate. However, based on this tree we would expect S5 and S6 to have the most similarities because they appear to share the most recent common ancestor out of any of the species shown.