Step 2: Phylogeny

The fossil record contains traces of other Caminalcules species that existed in the past. In this step, your goal is to construct a hypothesis about the evolutionary history of Caminalcules.

Task 1: First Fossil Record

Determine the evolutionary relationships of living Caminalcules and Fossil Caminalcules from the First Fossil Record.

Take into account their similarities and ages.

Task 2: Second Fossil Record

Print the document Second Fossil Record and cut off the Caminalcules.

Include them in the Phylogenetic tree from the previous step.

Try to establish their evolutionary relationships, taking into account their similarities and ages.

Note: Some species are represented by both living and fossil specimens.

How to Proceed

To Start

Print and cut out the Caminalcules in the pictures (including the living species)
Put them in piles according to their age (the number in parentheses)
Get a large sheet of paper or poster board to draw the phylogenetic tree

Drawing the Tree

Use a meter stick to draw 20 equally spaced horizontal lines on the paper
Each line represents a time span of one million years
Label each line so that the bottom represents 19 million years ago and the top represents the present (0 years)
Beginning with the oldest fossils, arrange the Caminalcules according to their evolutionary relationship
Start the phylogenetic tree by placing Species 73 in the middle of the 19 million-year line
This species gave rise to two new species (58 and 74) represented by 18-million-year-old fossils

                Important Tips
                Use a pencil to draw lines first to indicate the path of evolution
Don't darken the lines or glue down the Caminalcules until the path is certain to be correct
Branching should involve only two lines at a time
The Caminalcules numbering is random - the numbers do not give hints to evolutionary relationships

            

Documents

First Fossil Record
Second Fossil Record
Classification and Evolution