Question

Vanessa is studying 6 species of butterflies, which she codes with the letters A to F. She constructs the cladogram, shown below, to describe the evolutionary relationship among the species. The five labeled dots represent derived characters that Vanessa identified. Assume that none of the derived characters were lost in the evolutionary lineages. If Vanessa's cladogram is accurate, then it supports which statement about the 6 butterfly species? *

Answer 1

The third option is the correct answer.

Step-by-step explanation:

As you may already know, a cladogram is a diagram capable of representing the evolution of living beings, through their ancestry and genetic similarities.

In a cladogram, the main line is the root and represents the common ancestor among all living beings that will be added throughout the cladogram. The adjacent lines, the main line are the branches and represent the groups of living beings represented. Each point between the lines, are the nodes and represent cladogenetic events.

As you can see in the cladogram shown in the question above, species C and D come from the same branch, which means that these species are more genetically close and that they have many similarities in their genomes. However, species B and C or D and E, despite having the same ancestor in common, come from different branches, which means that they are less genetically similar.