Question 1

Which of the following characteristics is unique to animals and distinguishes them from plants and fungi?

Accepted Answer

They lack cell walls and ingest their prey

Question 2

The Burgess Shale biota is significant in the history of animal evolution because it:

Accepted Answer

Shows the earliest fossil appearance of many major groups of living animals

Question 3

Which hypothesis about the Cambrian Explosion suggests that the evolution of new developmental genes allowed for the emergence of more complex animal bodies?

Accepted Answer

New genes, new bodies via Hox genes

Question 4

A researcher discovers a new animal species that is triploblastic, has a body cavity completely lined by mesoderm, and exhibits bilateral symmetry. Which term best describes this animal?

Accepted Answer

Coelomate

Question 5

Which of the following is a correct distinction between protostomes and deuterostomes?

Accepted Answer

Protostomes develop the mouth from the blastopore; deuterostomes develop the anus from the blastopore.

Question 6

Which of the following best explains why the evolution of the mesoderm was important in animal evolution?

Accepted Answer

It enabled the formation of complex muscle tissue for movement

Question 7

A marine biologist finds an animal with no plane of symmetry, no true tissues, and no neurons. To which phylum does this animal most likely belong?

Accepted Answer

Porifera

Question 8

Which of the following feeding methods is most likely used by a blue whale, based on its mouthpart structure?

Accepted Answer

Suspension feeding

Question 9

Which of the following is NOT a function of animal locomotion?

Accepted Answer

Photosynthesis

Question 10

Which of the following statements about animal phylogeny is correct?

Accepted Answer

Porifera are considered basal animals

Question 11

A scientist is studying an animal with a tube-within-a-tube body plan. Which of the following features would she expect to find?

Accepted Answer

An alimentary canal with specialized compartments

Question 12

Which of the following is a specialized sense found in some animals but not in humans?

Accepted Answer

Magnetism

Question 13

Which of the following best describes the difference between a coelomate and a pseudocoelomate?

Accepted Answer

A coelomate has a body cavity completely lined by mesoderm, while a pseudocoelomate has a body cavity derived from both mesoderm and endoderm.

Question 14

Which of the following reproductive strategies involves the development of embryos inside eggs that are retained within the mother's body until they are ready to hatch?

Accepted Answer

Ovoviviparous

Question 15

Which of the following is a correct pairing of a bilaterian clade and a defining feature?

Accepted Answer

Lophotrochozoa – trochophore larva

Question 16

Which of the following is NOT a plausible explanation for the rapid diversification of animal body plans during the Cambrian Explosion?

Accepted Answer

Development of photosynthetic abilities in animals

Question 17

A scientist finds a fossil from the Ediacaran biota. Which of the following features is she LEAST likely to observe?

Accepted Answer

Presence of a hard skeleton

Question 18

Which of the following statements about animal nervous system organization is correct?

Accepted Answer

Radially symmetrical animals have nerve nets

Question 19

Which of the following is a real-world example of substrate feeding?

Accepted Answer

A caterpillar eating and moving through a leaf

Question 20

Which of the following is NOT a general food source category for animals?

Accepted Answer

Phototroph

Introduction to Animal Diversity: Structure, Evolution, and Function

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