Which is which?

So now we have put together a tree showing the relationships among our baby tortoises.

Now that we have a tree (with species E labeled as G. radiata) and we have the species grouped into smaller groups, we can go back to our boxes and try to put those labels on. Use the questions below to help you put the labels on the tree.

[FLASH ACTIVITY COMING SOON]

  • Which do you think are the four tortoises from Madagascar? Why? Hint [Species B and C are in a group. Species D and E (G. radiata)are in a group. Both of those groups fall into a bigger group totaling 4 species, one of which we know is from Madagascar.]
  • Look at the species names on the labels. Can you group the four Madagascar labels into two groups like the ones on the tree? Can you correctly label species D? Hint [What is the genus name for E? Don't worry about which is which within the Pyxis group.]
  • What species do you think would be most closely related the species from Madagascar? Hint [Look at the map for help.]
  • Look at the species names of the two tortoises you have left, can those help you determine which one should be more closely related. Hint [Is one genus unlike the others?]
  • The only thing we are missing is to determine which one is which within the Pyxis genus. Fortunately, you would be sending both Pyxis specimens to the same person in Western Madagascar, and he is confident that in a few weeks he will be able to tell them apart.

Now that you have correctly labeled the tortoises, you can rest easy about having done your job and returned them to their proper home. But this is not the end of where we can go with this genetic information. For someone who is interested in Madagascar's biodiversity and how everything arrived on the island, there are more interesting questions we can answer.