Study Questions - The Cenozoic Era
Readings - chapter 18
1) Draw the phylogeny of the major groups of mammals that radiated in the Mesozoic, including just the Morganucodontids, Multituberculates, Monotremes, Marsupials, and Placentals.
2) What were the dominant predators at the beginning of the paleogene?
3) Describe, geographically, the radiations of marsupial mammals.
4) Within placental mammals, what groups evolved in SA?
5) What groups were ancestral to carnivores and hooved herbivores?
6) What are the distinguishing characteristics of Artiodactyls and Perissiodactyls, and when did they diverge?
7) What group are whales related to, and what is the evidence?
8) The Oligocene and Miocene saw a change in climate that cause an evolutionary radiation of two major groups. Explain.
9) What types of organisms moved north and south when the central-american land bridge connected North and South America?
10) What did genetic analyses reveal about the relationships between the two extant elephant species and mammoths?