In which of the following extinct primates would you expect to find a 2/1/2/3 dental
formula?
a. Adapis
b. Notharctus
c. Branisella
d. Proconsul
The nose structure in all primates
a. is projecting (similar to dogs) and contributed to a decreasing sense of smell.
b. is projecting (similar to dogs) and contributed to an increasing sense of smell.
c. is flatter against the face and contributed to a decreasing sense of smell.
d. is flatter against the face and contributed to an increasing sense of smell.
Burial of the dead with elaborate grave goods is attributed to
a. Homo neanderthalensis.
b. Homo sapiens.
c. Homo erectus.
d. both a and b.
The complete set of genes in an individual cell is called
a. amino acids.
b. proteins.
c. the genome.
d. the gene pool.
Preadaptation is
a. the series of small adaptations that precedes the more observable adaptation.
b. the use of an anatomical feature in a way unrelated to the feature’s original function.
c. the use of an anatomical feature in the way it was originally intended.
d. none of the above.
The australopithecine lineage went extinct about
a. 0.5 mya.
b. 1 mya.
c. 2 mya.
d. 3 mya.
Historically speaking, which came first in the science of giving ages to the fossil
record?
a. numerical ages
b. relative ages
c. radiocarbon dating
d. none of the above
The northern African fossil primate called Biretia may be an early anthropoid, based on
the morphology of its
a. ankle.
b. skull.
c. lower premolar tooth.
d. pelvis.
A major shift by Homo habilis to new environments was characterized by
a. dietary shift.
b. tool use for obtaining and processing food.
c. big game hunting.
d. use of marine resources.
The best-documented case of industrial melanism involves
a. Galpagos finches.
b. dung beetles.
c. monarch butterflies.
d. peppered moths.
________ are organisms lacking any internal compartments.
a. Fungi
b. Plants
c. Prokaryotes
d. Eukaryotes
The two alleles that result in the expressed phenotype for hemoglobin are equally
expressed. This is an example of
a. polymorphism.
b. codominance.
c. pleiotropy.
d. Mendelian inheritance.
At which site would you be most likely to find fossil remains of Australopithecus
africanus?
a. Sterkfontein, South Africa
b. Hadar, Ethiopia
c. Laetoli, Tanzania
d. Swartkrans, South Africa
What evidence has led scientists to conclude that Neandertals differ more from modern
humans than any one modern group differs from any other?
a. skeletal
b. mtDNA
c. nuclear DNA
d. dental
Which modern human population exhibits the greatest genetic diversity today?
a. Native Americans
b. sub-Saharan Africans
c. Aboriginal Australians
d. East Asians
A random change in allele frequencies over time is known as
a. genetic drift.
b. gene flow.
c. admixture.
d. gene migration.
The Neandertal record begins in Eastern Europeat the site in Krapina, Croatiaat about
what time?
a. 1.0 mya
b. 250,000 yBP
c. 130,000 yBP
d. 2.0 mya
RNA differs from DNA in that it uses
a. uracil instead of adenine.
b. uracil instead of guanine.
c. guanine instead of uracil.
d. uracil instead of thymine.
Current evidence indicates that the earliest hominids lived in Africa ________ .
a. 1 to 3 million years ago.
b. 60 to 65 million years ago.
c. 10 to 15 million years ago.
d. 5.2 to 5.8 million years ago.
The expression of polygenic traits
a. is never influenced by environmental factors.
b. is determined by genes at several loci in conjunction with environmental factors.
c. is determined solely by genes at two or more loci.
d. none of the above.
Partial skulls of two adults and of one child, dating to around 160,000 yBP and
exhibiting mostly modern human features, come from
a. Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania.
b. Herto, Ethiopia.
c. Border Cave, South Africa.
d. Skhul, Israel.
A pre-australopithecine most likely has which of the following characteristics?
a. nonhoning chewing, vestigial apelike traits, increased brain size
b. modified honing chewing, vestigial apelike traits, increased brain size
c. modified honing chewing, vestigial apelike traits, small brain size
d. nonhoning chewing, loss of apelike traits, small brain size
Chromosome number is reduced during
a. mitosis.
b. recombination.
c. translation.
d. meiosis.
Population geneticists refer to a reproductive population as a(n)
a. allelic pool.
b. deme.
c. micropopulation.
d. macropopulation.
Sivapithecus is widely recognized as an ancestral member of which ape lineage?
a. gorilla
b. orangutan
c. chimpanzee
d. gibbon
If you are digging in a 20-million-year-old fossil site in eastern Africa, which primate
are you most likely to come across?
a. Proconsul
b. Oligopithecus
c. Theropithecus
d. Khoratpithecus
Physical anthropologists might examine
a. brain biology.
c. primate growth and development.
b. molecular structure of diseases.
d. all of the above.
The discovery of Kenyanthropus platyops was important mainly because
a. it had a small brain like an ape’s.
b. it was discovered in Kenya.
c. it showed diversity in the hominid fossil record 3.5 mya.
d. it probably lived in woodlands.
Classic Homo erectus cranial features include all of the following except
a. thick cranial bones.
b. large browridges.
c. rounded skull.
d. sagittal keel.
Physical anthropology includes
a. the study of linguistic variation as it relates to climate.
b. the study of fossilized birds.
c. the study of primates.
d. the study of human marriage patterns.
Describe some of the ways that modern humans’ faces, jaws, and teeth changed after the
shift to agriculture and consumption of softer foods.
To test hypotheses regarding modern human origins, it is important to clearly define
what we mean by “modern human.” What anatomical features are typically used to
contrast modern humans’ physical appearance with that of similar hominids?
What are some of the important scientific discoveries that laid the groundwork for
Darwin’s theory of evolution?
Homo erectus and Homo sapiens are two widely recognized hominid species. In
contrast, the hominids that are younger than most Homo erectus fossils but older than
the majority of Homo sapiens fossils have been loosely categorized as “archaic” Homo
sapiens. Why have these fossils not been given a distinct species name, and why do
they remain so difficult to classify formally?
Discuss how physical anthropologists use the scientific method.
Use what you know about meiosis to explain Mendel’s law of segregation and law of
independent assortment.
What have scientists learned about the function of primate vocalizations and how they
relate to the evolution of human language?
Why is Linnaeus’s taxonomic system called a “nested hierarchy”? Considering that
Linnaeus was not an evolutionist, why is his system still used today by evolutionary
biologists?
Describe the range of primate residence patterns. Relate social grouping to food and
reproduction.
Describe the steps involved in protein synthesis.
What main change in subsistence defines the Neolithic period? Name three geographic
regions where Neolithic lifeways appeared independently.
Define polygenic and pleiotropic traits and explain their significance for researchers’
efforts to link human genotypes to phenotypes.
Using evidence from well-known sites such as Shanidar, Iraq, and Krapina, Croatia,
describe the life of a Neandertal group living in Europe during the last “Ice Age.”
Discuss at least three features of the skeleton that differ between (bipedal) humans and
(quadrupedal) apes.
Discuss the reasons why Paleocene-aged plesiadapiforms should or should not be
included in the order Primates.
What is the significance for evolutionary theory of Darwin’s analysis of the Galpagos
finches? Provide at least one example in your answer.
Compare and contrast Rodman and McHenry’s Patchy Forest hypothesis with Lovejoy’s
Provisioning hypothesis.
Why is the incidence of sickle-cell anemia an excellent example of a “balanced
polymorphism,” in which two or more alleles are maintained by natural selection in a
population?