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Modern Biology Study Guide

SECTION 17-2 REVIEW

FOSSIL EVIDENCE OF HOMINID EVOLUTIONVOCABULARY REVIEW Define the following terms.

1. quadrupedal

2. australopithecine

3. Lucy

MULTIPLE CHOICE Write the correct letter in the blank.

1. To determine whether a fossil primate was a hominid, paleoanthropologists look mainlyat whether the specimen

a. had a large cranial capacity.b. had a pelvis.

2. The fossil primate “Lucy”

a. had a cranial capacity about the same as that of a modern human.b. was about as tall as a chimpanzee.c. was a quadrupedal hominid.d. was a bipedal prosimian.

3. Fossil evidence regarding hominid evolution indicates that hominids

a. acquired bipedalism before they developed a large brain and speech.b. developed a large brain and speech before becoming bipedal.c. acquired bipedalism, a large brain, and speech at the same time.d. lost the ability to walk upright when they evolved a large brain and speech.

4. Australopithecus robustus and A. boisei differed from A. afarensis by having

a. a smaller cranial capacity.b. smaller teeth.

5. Research on human evolution clearly shows that

a. different species of hominids lived at the same time.b. humans evolved along a single line of increasingly humanlike forms.c. several hominid forms arose, all of which evolved into modern humans.d. humans evolved from a different ancestor than the one that produced the hominids.

6. Two fossil finds of 1995 that shed light on the evolution of bipedalism included

a. Australopithecus afarensis and Australopithecus boisei.b. Australopithecus anamensis and Ardipithecus ramidus.c. Australopithecus anamensis and Australopithecus boisei.d. Australopithecus afarensis and Ardipithecus ramidus.

c. a heavier skull.d. modern humans as descendants.

c. was found in Africa.d. was bipedal.

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SHORT ANSWER Answer the questions in the space provided.

1. How did the discovery of Australopithecus afarensis change many ideas about the evolution

of humans?

2. What evidence besides fossil bones indicates that some very early primates were bipedal?

3. What evidence suggests that Australopithecus robustus and A. boisei were not ancestral to

modern humans?

4. Critical Thinking Why is the human evolutionary tree sometimes described as a bush?

5. Critical Thinking How might the evolution of bipedalism have increased the fitness of

early hominids?

STRUCTURES AND FUNCTIONS

1. The diagram below summarizes one model ofaustralopithecine evolution. Use the informa-tion in the following statements to fill in eachbox in the diagram with the name of theappropriate species.

Australopithecus boisei lived at about thesame time as A. robustus.

A. africanus was ancestral to A. robustus.A. anamensis may have given rise to

A. afarensis.A. africanus evolved from A. afarensis.

90 Section 17-2 Review

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