Interpreting and Constructing Cladograms

Name:______________________________ Date:_______ Period:_______

Cladograms are diagrams which depict the relationships between different groups of

taxa called“clades”. By depicting these relationships, cladograms reconstruct the

evolutionary history(phylogeny) of the taxa. Cladograms can also be called

“phylogenies” or “trees”.Cladograms are constructed by grouping organisms together

based on their shared derived characteristics. Derived characteristics or trait are new

traits that show up in a lineage.

Part 1: Use the diagram below to answer questions

1. How many derived characteristics are represented on the diagram above? _____

2. Which animals have claws or nails? ___________________________________

3. Which animals have jaws? ___________________________________________

4. How many derived characteristics separate hagfish form chimps and what are
they?
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5. How many derived characteristics separate perch from pigeons and what are
they? ___________________________________________________________
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6. Which derived characteristic(s) do salamanders and mice have in common?

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7. Which derived characteristics do pigeons and lizards have in common?

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8. Which two organisms are more closely related hagfish and perch or perch and
lizards? How did you make your conclusion? ____________________________
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9. Which two organisms are more closely related lizards and pigeons or mice and
chimps? How did you make your conclusion? ___________________________
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10. Do perch and chimps share a common ancestor? Explain your answer.
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Part 2: Practice
1. Given these characters and taxa:

Taxa
Characters Shar bullfro kangaro Huma
k g o n
Vertebrae X X X X
Two pairs of X X X
limbs
Mammary X X
Glands
Placenta X

2. Draw a Venn diagram. Start with the character that is shared by all the
taxa on the outside. Inside each box, write the taxa that have only that set of
characters.

Vertebrae : Shark, Bullfrog, Kangaroo, Human

2. Convert the Venn diagram into a cladogram like so:
Part 3: Construct your own cladogram using the information in the
table below and answer the following questions.
Derived Characteristic
Organism
Multicellular Backbone Legs Feathers Hair
Amoeba Absent Absent Absent Absent Absent
Slug Present Absent Absent Absent Absent
Owl Present Present Present Present Absent
Human Present Present Present Present Present
Snake Present Present Absent Absent Absent

1. Identify the organism in the table that is least closely related to the others.
__________________________
2. Which trait separates the least closely related organism from the other animals?
(HINT:Which trait do 4/5 members of the group share)?
____________________________
3. List the animals in your cladogram in order of distance from the least closely related
organism to the most closely related. _______________ ______________
______________ ________________ ______________________
4. Which animal is more closely related to the human the owl or the snake?
_____________________ Explain. ___________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
5. Where would you insert a frog if you were to add it to the cladogram? Indicate its
location using an arrow on your cladogram. Explain why you put it there.
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SPACE FOR CLADOGRAM If this is not enough space, attach a sheet of paper.
PART 4: Enrichment
Convert the following data table into a venn diagram, and then into a
cladogram:
Venn Diagram (Draw your cladogram on the clean sheet of paper.)

Animals Spong jellyfis flatwor earthwor snai fruitfl starfis huma

 e h m m l y h n

Characte
rs
cells w/ X X X X X X X X
flagella
symmetry X X X X X X X
bilateral X X X X X (as X
symmetry larva)
mesoder X X X X X X
m
head X X X X
develops
first
anus X X
develops
first
segmente X X
d body
calcified X
shell
chitonous X
exoskelet
on
water X
vascular
system
vertebrae X