Question

The island fox shares a common ancestor with the gray fox, Urocyon cinereoargenteus, which is found on the mainland. Both species have similar coloration and a diploid chromosome number of 66. One structural difference between the two species is the reduced size of the island fox, a feature known as dwarfism. The various island subspecies also differ from each other in size, number of tail vertebrae, and other characteristics. The phylogenetic tree below shows the evolutionary relationships between the island fox subspecies and the gray fox. Drag the labels to their appropriate locations on the tree. First, drag the blue labels onto the blue targets to identify the common ancestors at the branch points. Next, drag one white label onto the white target to identify the homologous characteristic. Then, drag one pink label onto the pink target to identify the relationship between the two species.

Answer 1

a. ancestor of gray foxes and island foxes

b. ancestor of Santa Rosa and San Miguel foxes

c. dwarfism

d. ancestor of Northern Channel Island foxes

e. most closely related

f. ancestor of Southern Channel Island foxes

g. ancestor of island foxes

h. ancestor of Santa Catalina and San Clemente foxes

Step-by-step explanation:

A phylogenetic tree is a diagrammatic representation of evolutionary relationships between different species. It is a combination of different clades that describe the evolutionary homology between different species of the same organism.

In a phylogenetic tree, all ancestors are represented at branch points or nodes that are highlighted in blue circles on the tree.

In a clade, the closest members are also placed close to each other. Therefore, the Santa Rosa and San Miguel foxes possess greater homology than other species.