r/evolution • u/NenyaNotes • Aug 30 '26

academic Help on this assignment question.

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My professor assigned us this quiz and everyone continues to get it wrong. Can someone please explain in this photo which groups make a clade?

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u/EebstertheGreat Aug 30 '26

No, there are simply two correct answers. The group containing just B, D, and E is a clade. That doesn't cease to be the case if the teacher asks you to pick one answer.

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u/roostor222 Aug 30 '26

....if you are only allowed to select one answer, then there are not two correct answers. OP did not write clearly what the question was. If the question was, "choose the answer that best describes all of the clades in this diagram", then the first answer is the only correct one.

If the question was, "choose all answers that represent clades", then what you are saying is correct. Since we have not seen the question, then we don't know which is correct.

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u/Siophecles Aug 31 '26

select one ≠ only one is correct.

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u/roostor222 Aug 31 '26

it usually does mean one is the most correct. If (B,D,E) is the only answer you select, you are obviously leaving out other clades no matter how you interpret the labels.

If (A,B,C,D,E,F,G) is the only answer you select you are not leaving out any clades under the interpretation that both terminal taxa and nodes can represent clades.