Mammalogy BIO334_534: Critical Thinking Exercise 2

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#5909

Q1:

Metatherians have been accused of being inferior to Eutherian mammals by some. What is the evidence for such an opinion? Do you agree with that assessment?

Q2:

What does the fact that there are still living representatives of Prototherians tell us about the evolutionary pathway of mammals from therapsids? What might we assume if we only had fossils of monotremes to study?

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#5913

A1:
Much smaller in general size. Not placental mammals. Less diverse. Very short gestation periods. Less chromosomes. Less evolutionary flexibility. I agree due to the large differences between clades, indicating Eutherians are far removed from Metatherians.

A2:
Prototherians share a large number of ancestral traits with therapsids. Theria came from reptiles.

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