The Family Felidae (Cats) Is Distributed Across Africa, Eurasia, North

The family Felidae (cats) is distributed across Africa, Eurasia, North America, and South America and is hypothesized to have eight major lineages (Panthera, bay cat, caracal, ocelot, lynx, puma, leopard, and domestic cat groups) as shown in this phylogenetic tree, constructed from DNA sequences. Scientists used a molecular clock and fossil evidence to date the divergence of each group. The dates of divergence are provided in the accompanying figure.

-The banded linsang is not a member of the Felidae. Its inclusion in this evolutionary analysis is to

A) determine the group in which differences in DNA sequences first evolved.
B) serve as an ingroup and distinguish clades with shared derived characters.
C) guarantee the parsimony of the resulting phylogenetic tree.
D) demonstrate that changes in DNA sequences are not goal directed.