Which of the following statements about reconstructing phylogenies is false?
A) Traits found in the outgroup as well as in the ingroup are likely to be ancestral traits.
B) Shared traits are generally assumed to be homoplastic until they can be proven to be homologous.
C) Phylogenetic trees do not always provide an explicit time scale by which to date the splits between lineages.
D) In a phylogenetic tree, branches can be rotated around any node without changing the meaning of the tree.
E) A particular trait may be either ancestral or derived depending on the point of reference of the phylogeny.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Shared traits are generally assumed to be homologous until evidence suggests they are homoplastic, not the other way around.

Which of the Following Statements About Reconstructing Phylogenies Is False