Evolution Cladistics Labs

Complete the following activities. This will help us get into fossils and animals.

Part 1- Cladistics

This Cladistics activity needs for you to look at a penny, dime nickel and quarter. Think about the visual differences between each coin and image those are animals.

-how are they the same, how are they different?

File:

Understanding Cladistics Part I

Download Understanding Cladistics Part I

Part 2- Cladistics with animals

Read through the handout and view the animal images. 

Place and X in the appropriate boxes as the instructions show.

Files:

Understanding Cladistics part 2 Download Understanding Cladistics part 2

Cladistics Photos

Download Cladistics Photos

When finished scan and upload both the associated files. I only need the 2 answer pages not the photo page (it is jsut for reference)

Fish

Snail

Duck Salamander

Mockingbird Alligator

Mouse

Rhinoceras

Bat

Deer

T-Rex Fossil Horse

Classifying with Cladistics: Part II

Now that you have mastered cladistics, a method that University level scientists do everyday, you are ready to
use cladistics to determine how the following organisms are related. Put a plus(+) if the animal has the feature, a
negative (-) if the animal does not have the feature, and a question mark (?) if you and other do not know if the
animal has the feature. You do not need to fill in the dark grey boxes. Examine the photos carefully!

Organism

B

ac
kb

on
e

Fo
ur

L
im

bs

La
ys

E
gg

s

S
ca

les
on

B
od

y (
ta

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a

go
od

loo

k a
t t

he
le

gs
)

H
ole

in
th

e H
ip

S
oc

ke
t /

Le

gs
go

st
ra

igh
t d

ow
n

Fe
at

he
rs

2
Fr

on
t L

im
bs

ar
e m

od
ifie

d f
or

flig

ht

H
air

Li
ve

B
irt

h

H
oo

ve
s

E
ve

n n
um

be
r o

f t
oe

s

O
dd

nu
mb

er
of

to
es

Snail

Fish

Salamander

Alligator

T-rex

Mockingbird

Duck

Mouse

Bat

Deer

Rhinoceros

Fossil
Horse

Uncovering Florida’s Fossil Pas may not be reproduced without permission of the author, Larisa R. Grawe DeSantis. t

For educational purposes only.

Classifying with Cladistics: Part I

Examine al l of the coins. Do all of them share a common feature? One feature they share in
common is that they are round. Since all of the coins have the “round” feature, mark an “X” in
each box in the “round” row.

As a team, you and your partner will do the following:
1) List a feature that three coins have in common that the
fourth coin does not. List this feature next to the letter
“B” in the “feature” column.
2) Mark an “X” in the columns of the three coins that
have feature “B.”
3) List a feature that two of the three coins checked
have in common that the third checked coin does not.
List this feature next to the letter “C” in the “feature”
column.
4) Mark an “X” in the columns of the two coins that have feature “C.”

As a class you will translate the date from your table onto the cladogram.

• How do you think you will do this?
• What do you think goes next to letter “B”?
• What do you think goes next to letter “C”?
• What coin will go on line 1, according to your data (not the data of anyone else, look in

your table)?

Adapted from: The Moveable Museum The
Paleontology o Dino aurs Teacher’s Resource Guid .

:
f s e

American Museum of Natural History, New York, 2002