Free Concept of Evolution MCQs with Answers

• A. analogous
• B. homologous
• C. vestigial
• D. acquired

Explanation: Homologous organs share a common structural plan and a common embryonic origin because they were inherited from a shared ancestor, and…

• A. develop from the same embryonic tissue
• B. contain the same bones in the same order
• C. perform the same function but differ in structure and origin
• D. are both reduced and non functional

Explanation: Both are used for flight, but a bird wing is a modified vertebrate forelimb with bone inside while an insect wing is an outgrowth of the…

• A. Vermiform appendix
• B. Pancreas
• C. Diaphragm
• D. Thymus gland

Explanation: The appendix is the reduced remains of a large caecum that digests cellulose in herbivorous ancestors, and it can be removed with no loss…

• A. comparative embryology
• B. vestigial organs
• C. biochemical similarity between proteins
• D. the fossil record

Explanation: Fossils are the only evidence that shows extinct organisms themselves, arranged in dated rock layers, so they give an actual sequence of…

• A. fishes and amphibians
• B. amphibians and reptiles
• C. reptiles and birds
• D. reptiles and mammals

Explanation: Archaeopteryx had feathers and a wishbone like a bird but also teeth in its jaws, a long bony tail and clawed fingers like a reptile, so…

• A. more distantly related they are
• B. more closely related they are
• C. larger their genomes must be
• D. faster their mutation rate must be

Explanation: Sequence differences accumulate by mutation after two lineages separate, so a small number of differences means little time has passed…

• A. comparative anatomy of adults
• B. palaeontology
• C. biogeography
• D. comparative embryology

Explanation: Early vertebrate embryos resemble one another far more than the adults do, and structures such as pharyngeal pouches and a post anal tail…

• A. the two colour forms of the peppered moth
• B. the reduced human appendix
• C. Darwin's finches evolving different beak shapes from one ancestral species
• D. the similarity of cytochrome c in humans and chimpanzees

Explanation: Adaptive radiation is the spread of one ancestral species into many descendant species, each adapted to a different niche, which is…

• A. gradual genetic change in populations over successive generations
• B. the growth of an individual from birth to adulthood
• C. the seasonal migration of animals
• D. the extinction of a single species

Explanation: Evolution acts on populations across generations, changing allele frequencies over time.

• A. Lamarck
• B. Alfred Russel Wallace
• C. Gregor Mendel
• D. Thomas Huxley

Explanation: Wallace reached the same conclusion while collecting in the Malay Archipelago, and his letter prompted the joint reading of both men's…

• A. palaeontology
• B. embryology
• C. biogeography
• D. taxonomy

Explanation: Biogeography explains why isolated landmasses evolve their own distinctive faunas, a pattern Darwin and Wallace both used as evidence.

• A. individual
• B. cell
• C. organelle
• D. population

Explanation: An individual's genes are fixed for life, so it cannot evolve; what changes is the genetic makeup of populations as generations pass.

• A. The horse
• B. The pigeon
• C. The frog
• D. The earthworm

Explanation: From the small multi toed Hyracotherium to the single hooved Equus, horse fossils record increasing size, fewer toes and taller teeth as…

• A. all species were created separately
• B. all life shares a common ancestor
• C. mutation is impossible
• D. DNA is chemically unstable

Explanation: A universal code is exactly what common descent predicts: one original system inherited by every branch of life.

• A. The fossil record
• B. Comparison of DNA sequences
• C. The growth of an individual from birth to adulthood
• D. The presence of vestigial organs

Explanation: Fossils, molecular comparisons and vestigial structures all reveal change across generations.

• A. are equally useful in every species
• B. appear only in fossils
• C. function better than they once did
• D. have lost most or all of their original function in the course of evolution

Explanation: The human appendix, wisdom teeth and ear muscles persist as reduced remnants of structures that served our ancestors.

• A. adaptation to different food sources
• B. random accidents with no cause
• C. differences in the age of the birds
• D. infection by different parasites

Explanation: Seed crackers, insect pickers and cactus feeders each carry a beak matched to their food, descendants of one ancestor that radiated into…

• A. All individuals being genetically identical
• B. Heritable variation among individuals
• C. The absence of competition
• D. Unlimited food supply

Explanation: Without heritable differences there is nothing for selection to choose between, so variation produced by mutation and recombination is the…

• A. The Origin of Species
• B. Principia Mathematica
• C. Philosophie Zoologique
• D. Zoonomia

Explanation: Philosophie Zoologique set out the first complete theory of evolution, fifty years before Darwin.

• A. sudden mutation
• B. natural selection
• C. hybridisation
• D. disuse over many generations

Explanation: By his law of use and disuse, an organ that stops being used wastes away and the loss is then inherited.