Study Questions - The Cenozoic Era
Readings - chapter 3, 14
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 Tertiary Period (Paleocene Epoch)?
3) Describe, geographically, the radiations of marsupial mammals.
4) Within placental mammals, what groups evolved in SA?
5) What are the realtionships between the Artiodactls, Perissodactyls, Carnivora, Creodonts, Condylarths, and Mesonychids? When did each radiate?
6) Give a rough outline of the evolutionary sequence of whales, from terrestrial ancestor, through amphibious species, to a marine animal. When did they evolve?
7) The Oligocene and Miocene saw a change in climate that cause an evolutionary radiation of two major groups. Explain.
8) What types of organisms moved north and south when the Central-American land bridge connected North and South America? When did this occur?
9) What did genetic analyses reveal about the relationships between the two extant elephant species and mammoths?
10) Use Bergmann's Rule to explain the increas in body size of the Pleistocene "Megafauna".
11) What killed off the Pleistocene Megafauna?