Evolutionary Trees
13 minutes
13 marks
Page 1 of 7 Q1. The diagram shows an evolutionary tree for a group of animals called primates.
The names of extinct animals are printed in italics e.g. Nycticeboides.
The drawings show animals that are alive today.
Illustration by Lucrezia Beerli-Bieler
(a) (i) How many million years ago did Karanisia first appear?
...... millions of years ago. (1)
(ii) During which geological period did the Apes and Monkeys begin to evolve?
...... (1)
(iii) Which group of primates alive today are the closest relatives of the Lorises?
...... (1)
Page 2 of 7 (b) Darwin was the first scientist to state that humans and other primates had common ancestors.
Many people were against Darwin’s ideas at that time.
Give two reasons why they were against his ideas.
1 ......
......
2 ......
...... (2) (Total 5 marks)
Q2. The diagram shows a timeline for the evolution of some dinosaurs.
The mass of each dinosaur is shown in the brackets by its name.
(a) Name one dinosaur which lived between 100 and 150 million years ago.
...... (1)
(b) Which dinosaur did Ornitholestes evolve from?
...... (1)
Page 3 of 7 (c) Apart from body size and mass, give one other difference between Lagosuchus and Alamosaurus.
......
...... (1)
(d) (i) Which dinosaur had the largest mass?
...... (1)
(ii) What happened to the mass of dinosaurs during evolution?
......
...... (1)
(e) We know about dinosaurs from their fossils.
Describe one way in which fossils are formed
......
...... (1)
(f) Complete the sentence by using the correct words from the box.
billion complex large million simple thousand
The theory of evolution states that all species of living things have evolved
from ...... life forms which first developed more than
three ...... years ago. (2) (Total 8 marks)
Page 4 of 7
M1. (a) (i) 40 – 42 1
(ii) Palaeocene 1
(iii) bush babies 1
(b) any two from:
• religious objections
• insufficient evidence allow ‘could not prove’ ignore ‘no evidence’
• mechanism of heredity not known 2 [5]
M2. (a) agilisaurus / camarasaurus / ornitholestes 1
(b) eorapter allow lagosuchus 1
(c) lagusuchus (it) walks on hind limbs / two limbs / alamosaurus has longer neck / lagusuchus has back legs longer than front but alamosaurus has the reverse 1
(d) (i) alamosaurus 1
(ii) increased 1
(e) from hard parts / bones / imprints e.g. footprints / parts replaced by other materials / conditions for decay absent or example buried is neutral 1
(f) simple 1
billion 1 [8]
Page 5 of 7
E1. In part (a)(i) a majority of candidates gave acceptable answers in the range 40-42, but several gave answers in the 30s.
It was surprising how many candidates failed to copy the name of the period correctly in part (a) (ii). It was often difficult to decide whether the candidate was referring to Palaeocene or to Pliocene. Several candidates hedged their bets by giving a range of periods.
In part (a)(iii) whilst most candidates correctly deduced the relationship, there were many who gave answers which did not come from the drawing, pandas being a popular choice.
In part (b) nearly all candidates gave answers that attempted to address the question. The most common correct responses where that Darwin was unable to prove his ideas and that people had contradictory religious beliefs. Very few candidates gave answers relating to the mechanism of heredity not being known. The most common errors were suggestions that humans and primates were different. For example, primates looked too different or behaved differently. Some candidates simply suggested that people did not believe Darwin. Better candidates would support this with suggestions that it was a new idea, or that only Darwin thought he was right, or that people did not want to believe that they were related to primates. A significant proportion of candidates incorrectly suggested Darwin had no evidence; however insufficient evidence gained a mark.
E2. (a) This was correctly answered by most candidates.
(b) This question revealed that a large percentage of candidates had misread the timescale on the diagram. They believed that the top of the diagram represented the furthest back in time, coming towards the present day as you moved down the page. This led to many of them stating that Ornitholestes had evolved from Tyrannosaurus rather than from Eoraptor.
(c) Some candidates guessed at differences that might have existed, rather than stating the differences that could be seen in the diagram.
(d) In part (i) most candidates usually answered correctly, though part (ii) again revealed those candidates who had the time scale going in the wrong direction, as they stated that the mass of the dinosaurs decreased during evolution.
(e) Most candidates were able to make some reference to the bones or hard parts of the animal.
(f) This was generally well answered.
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