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Chapter 16/17 Vocab.
Chapter 16 - Vocab.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| anthropoid | humanlike primates that include New World monkeys, Old World monkeys, and hominoids |
| opposable thumb | primate characteristic of having a thumb that can cross the palm and meet the other fingertips |
| prehensile tail | long muscular tail used as a fifth limb for grasping and wrapping around objects |
| primate | group of mammals including lemurs, monkeys, apes, and humans that evolved from a common ancestor |
| australopithecine | early African hominid, genus Australopithecus, that had both apelike and humanlike characteristics |
| bipedal | ability to walk on two legs |
| Cro-Magnon | modern form of Homo sapiens that spread throughout Europe between 35 000 to 40 000 years ago |
| hominid | a group of bipedal primates that includes modern humans and their direct ancestors |
| Neandertal | archaic Homo sapiens that lived from 35 000 to 100 000 years ago in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East |
| binomial nomenclature | two-word system developed by Carolus Linnaeus to name species |
| class | taxonomic grouping of similar orders |
| classification | grouping of objects or information based on similarities |
| division | taxonomic grouping of similar classes |
| family | taxonomic grouping of similar genera |
| genus | first word of a two-part scientific name used to identify a group of similar species |
| kingdom | taxonomic grouping of similar phyla or divisions |
| order | taxonomic grouping of similar families |
| phylum | taxonomic grouping of similar classes |
| specific epithet | the second word of a species name |
| taxonomy | branch of biology that groups and names organisms based on studies of their shared characteristics |
| cladistics | biological classification system based on phylogeny |
| cladogram | branching diagram that models the phylogeny of a species based on the derived traits of a group of organisms |
| eubacteria | group of prokaryotes with strong cell walls and a variety of structures, may be autotrophs or heterotrophs |
| fungus | group of unicellular or multicellular heterotrophic eukaryotes that do not move from place to place |
| phylogeny | evolutionary history of a species based on comparative relationships of structures and comparisons of modern life forms with fossils |
| protist | diverse group of multicellular or unicellular eukaryotes that lack complex organ systems and live in moist environments |