Use the following figure and description to answer the question.

Humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans are members of a clade called the great apes, which shared a common ancestor about 15 million years ago. Gibbons and siamangs comprise a clade called the lesser apes. Tree-branch lengths indicate elapsed time.
Assuming chimps and gorillas are humans' closest relatives, removing humans from the great ape clade and placing them in a different clade has the effect of making the phylogenetic tree of the great apes ________.
A) polyphyletic
B) paraphyletic
C) monophyletic
D) into a new order

Question

Use the following figure and description to answer the question.

Humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans are members of a clade called the great apes, which shared a common ancestor about 15 million years ago. Gibbons and siamangs comprise a clade called the lesser apes. Tree-branch lengths indicate elapsed time.
Assuming chimps and gorillas are humans' closest relatives, removing humans from the great ape clade and placing them in a different clade has the effect of making the phylogenetic tree of the great apes ________.
A) polyphyletic 
B) paraphyletic 
C) monophyletic 
D) into a new order

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Placing humans in a different clade would create a paraphyletic grouping of the great apes, as it would exclude humans from their common ancestor and make the group incomplete.

Use the Following Figure and Description to Answer the Question