BIOLOGY MAJOR FIELD STUDY GUIDE 2026/2027
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS RATED A+
✔✔All of the following are classified as protostomes EXCEPT:
a) segmented worms
b) spiders
c) echinoderms
d) mollusks
e) insects - ✔✔echinoderms
✔✔In the earliest chordates, pharyngeal slits appear to have function first not as gill slits
primarily but as, - ✔✔Suspension feeding devices
✔✔Which of the following is NOT a novel adaptation of birds that support flight?
a) Feathers of wings and tail
b) Efficient lungs
c) Keratinized beak in place of mineralized teeth
d) Amniotic egg
e) Single ovary in females - ✔✔d) Amniotic egg
✔✔Which of the following groups evolved wings the EARLIEST:
a) insects
b) bats
c) pterosaurs, such as pterodactyls
d) birds - ✔✔Insects
✔✔Order the following five animals by their degree of cephalization, from least
cephalized to most:
parasitic nematode, grasshopper, tunicate, horseshoe crab, sea urchin - ✔✔Sea
urchine - tunicate - nematode - horseshoe crab - grasshopper
✔✔What is ecdysis? - ✔✔Shedding an outer cuticle layer and secreting a new one
✔✔Which of the following members of the class Arachnida are primarily parasitic:
a) spiders
b) scorpions
c) ticks and mites
d) trilobites - ✔✔c) ticks and mites
✔✔Almost all of the major animal body plans seen today appear in the fossil record
over 500 million years ago at the beginning of the:
a) Cambrian period
b) Ediacaran period
,c) Permian period
d) Carboniferous period - ✔✔a) Cambrian
✔✔All of the following animal phyla has evolved both aquatic and terrestrial life forms
EXCEPT:
a) Arthropoda
b) Chordata
c) Echinodermata
d) Mollusca - ✔✔c) Echinodermata
✔✔According to one leading hypothesis, the jaw of vertebrates were derived by the
modification of: - ✔✔Skeletal rods that had supported pharyngeal (gill) slits
✔✔A true coelom is a: - ✔✔body cavity completely surrounded by mesoderm tissue
✔✔The number of legs an insect has, the number of vertebrae in a vertebral column, or
the number of segments a centipede has are all strongly influenced by the _____ genes
- ✔✔HOX
✔✔Which of the following is the most important substance for structural support in
arachnids, crustaceans, and fungi - ✔✔Chitin
✔✔A full muscular diaphragm is found in only ______ - ✔✔mammals
✔✔Tagmosis is - ✔✔the development fusion of adjacent body segments into functional
regions
✔✔Which of the following is MOST closely related with endothermy:
a) higher metabolic rate and homeothermy
b) lower metabolic rate and poikilothermy - ✔✔a) higher metabolic rate and
homeothermy
✔✔Which of the following is NOT a mammal:
a) bat
b) rodent
c) whale
d) caecilian - ✔✔d) caecilian
✔✔A trend first observed in the evolution of the earliest tetrapods was - ✔✔feet with
digits
✔✔Why is the amniotic egg considered an important evolutionary breakthrough? - ✔✔It
allows deposition of eggs in a terrestrial environment
, ✔✔Monotremes are mammals that - ✔✔Lay eggs
✔✔Marsupials are mammals that - ✔✔complete embryonic development in the mother's
pouch
✔✔Crustaceans include all of the following except
a) barnacles
b) shrimp
c) lobster
d) centipedes - ✔✔d) centipedes
✔✔What is a notocord? - ✔✔A stiff, flexible rod that extends the length of a chordate
animal's body
✔✔What is the period called the "Age of Fishes" in which placoderms were the most
numerous and diverse vertebrates in the seas? - ✔✔Devonian period
✔✔Dorsal hollow nerve cord in chordata is apart of the early nervous system that often
develops into the ________________ - ✔✔spinal cord
✔✔Post anal tail in chordata: - ✔✔Muscular tail that extends past the chordate's anus
✔✔Centipedes/Millipedes are from class: - ✔✔Chilopoda
✔✔Class with a swim bladder - ✔✔Actinopterygis
✔✔Birds belong to the class - ✔✔Reptilia
✔✔Two classes that have an amniotic egg - ✔✔Mammalia & Reptilia
✔✔The _____ class has differentiated teeth - ✔✔Mammalia
✔✔Class with the highest number and diversity of known species - ✔✔Insecta
✔✔Challenge of Terrestrial Living: Getting fluid to all tissues
Adaptation: - ✔✔Adaptation: Closed circulatory system in which blood pumped through
vessels in the body
✔✔Challenge of Terrestrial Living: Staying upright against gravity
Adaptation: - ✔✔Adaptation: Tetrapod limbs which gave support and allowed them to
walk on land
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS RATED A+
✔✔All of the following are classified as protostomes EXCEPT:
a) segmented worms
b) spiders
c) echinoderms
d) mollusks
e) insects - ✔✔echinoderms
✔✔In the earliest chordates, pharyngeal slits appear to have function first not as gill slits
primarily but as, - ✔✔Suspension feeding devices
✔✔Which of the following is NOT a novel adaptation of birds that support flight?
a) Feathers of wings and tail
b) Efficient lungs
c) Keratinized beak in place of mineralized teeth
d) Amniotic egg
e) Single ovary in females - ✔✔d) Amniotic egg
✔✔Which of the following groups evolved wings the EARLIEST:
a) insects
b) bats
c) pterosaurs, such as pterodactyls
d) birds - ✔✔Insects
✔✔Order the following five animals by their degree of cephalization, from least
cephalized to most:
parasitic nematode, grasshopper, tunicate, horseshoe crab, sea urchin - ✔✔Sea
urchine - tunicate - nematode - horseshoe crab - grasshopper
✔✔What is ecdysis? - ✔✔Shedding an outer cuticle layer and secreting a new one
✔✔Which of the following members of the class Arachnida are primarily parasitic:
a) spiders
b) scorpions
c) ticks and mites
d) trilobites - ✔✔c) ticks and mites
✔✔Almost all of the major animal body plans seen today appear in the fossil record
over 500 million years ago at the beginning of the:
a) Cambrian period
b) Ediacaran period
,c) Permian period
d) Carboniferous period - ✔✔a) Cambrian
✔✔All of the following animal phyla has evolved both aquatic and terrestrial life forms
EXCEPT:
a) Arthropoda
b) Chordata
c) Echinodermata
d) Mollusca - ✔✔c) Echinodermata
✔✔According to one leading hypothesis, the jaw of vertebrates were derived by the
modification of: - ✔✔Skeletal rods that had supported pharyngeal (gill) slits
✔✔A true coelom is a: - ✔✔body cavity completely surrounded by mesoderm tissue
✔✔The number of legs an insect has, the number of vertebrae in a vertebral column, or
the number of segments a centipede has are all strongly influenced by the _____ genes
- ✔✔HOX
✔✔Which of the following is the most important substance for structural support in
arachnids, crustaceans, and fungi - ✔✔Chitin
✔✔A full muscular diaphragm is found in only ______ - ✔✔mammals
✔✔Tagmosis is - ✔✔the development fusion of adjacent body segments into functional
regions
✔✔Which of the following is MOST closely related with endothermy:
a) higher metabolic rate and homeothermy
b) lower metabolic rate and poikilothermy - ✔✔a) higher metabolic rate and
homeothermy
✔✔Which of the following is NOT a mammal:
a) bat
b) rodent
c) whale
d) caecilian - ✔✔d) caecilian
✔✔A trend first observed in the evolution of the earliest tetrapods was - ✔✔feet with
digits
✔✔Why is the amniotic egg considered an important evolutionary breakthrough? - ✔✔It
allows deposition of eggs in a terrestrial environment
, ✔✔Monotremes are mammals that - ✔✔Lay eggs
✔✔Marsupials are mammals that - ✔✔complete embryonic development in the mother's
pouch
✔✔Crustaceans include all of the following except
a) barnacles
b) shrimp
c) lobster
d) centipedes - ✔✔d) centipedes
✔✔What is a notocord? - ✔✔A stiff, flexible rod that extends the length of a chordate
animal's body
✔✔What is the period called the "Age of Fishes" in which placoderms were the most
numerous and diverse vertebrates in the seas? - ✔✔Devonian period
✔✔Dorsal hollow nerve cord in chordata is apart of the early nervous system that often
develops into the ________________ - ✔✔spinal cord
✔✔Post anal tail in chordata: - ✔✔Muscular tail that extends past the chordate's anus
✔✔Centipedes/Millipedes are from class: - ✔✔Chilopoda
✔✔Class with a swim bladder - ✔✔Actinopterygis
✔✔Birds belong to the class - ✔✔Reptilia
✔✔Two classes that have an amniotic egg - ✔✔Mammalia & Reptilia
✔✔The _____ class has differentiated teeth - ✔✔Mammalia
✔✔Class with the highest number and diversity of known species - ✔✔Insecta
✔✔Challenge of Terrestrial Living: Getting fluid to all tissues
Adaptation: - ✔✔Adaptation: Closed circulatory system in which blood pumped through
vessels in the body
✔✔Challenge of Terrestrial Living: Staying upright against gravity
Adaptation: - ✔✔Adaptation: Tetrapod limbs which gave support and allowed them to
walk on land
