Imagine you are a paleontologist trying to find the “missing link” between different species. In three to five sentences, create a fictional narrative about your discoveries, describing: 1) what two species, mythical or real, you are studying, 2) what evidence you have linking these species, and 3) what evidence you have to define different correlations and causations that support your hypothesis.

What is the phylogenetic definition of a species? A) A group of individuals that can breed and produce viable offspring B) A group of interbreeding individuals that share the same environment C) A group of individuals that share a common ancestor

The figure shows a phylogenetic tree of various members of the order Proboscidea, which includes modern elephants. Which of the following claims is best supported by the information in the figure ?     a.The mastodon and the Stegodon diverged from their common ancestor 22 million years ago.   b.The common ancestor of the African elephant and the mastodon is the Palaeomastodon.   c.The mammoth diverged from its most recent common ancestor with African elephants before the mastodon diverged from its most recent common ancestor with Stegodons.   d.The Asian and African elephants are the most closely related species shown on the tree.

It is possible for two different genes to imply different phylogenetic relationships among a group of species. What are the possible reasons for this? If there is only one true history of formation of these species, what might we do in order to determine which (if either) gene accurately portrays that history? Is it possible for both phylogenetic trees to be accurate even if there has been only one history of species divergence?