Question

One of your fellow systematists has asked you to help her group organisms into a valid phylogenetic tree. At present, she has grouped species G, H, and K. Which, if any, additional species would you also need to add to ensure the grouping is monophyletic?

Answer 1

Answer and explanation:

Monophyletic species are the species whose lineage belongs to the common recent phylogenetic ancestor. As mentioned in the question, the girl has 3 species namely G, H, and K. Because there is no other criteria given, we assume that the closeness of alphabets would reflect the closeness of species. Thus, G and H are closer relative than K. Therefore, if she adds I, and J species in the list, all of them will be closer relatives and we can say that they are monophyletic now.