BIOL 2400 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1-6: Carotenoid, Molecular Phylogenetics, Burgess Shale

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Cetacean"s posses many traits only found in mammals. In the origin of species, darwin proposed an explanation for these similarities and differences. Cetaceans descended from mammals that lived on land, and their lineage evolved into marine mammals through natural selection. In a process of convergent evolution the ancestors of whales lost their hindlimbs and front legs became flippers. Whales still have some similar traits from mammalian ancestors. Mammary glands of whales and land mammals are examples of homology. Numerous cetacean fossils were found and they knew this due to synapomorphies. Dorudon atrox is a 40 million year old fossil that had the same synapomorphies as cetaceans. It also has some features that aren"t seen today in cetaceans. Such as, different teeth shapes that were more like land mammals. This proved that the evolution of peg- like teeth and baleen occurred after cetaceans had become aquatic. In 1979 gingerich traveled to pakistan to investigate geological formation from the.

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