Fossils of Thrinaxodon, a Species That Lived During the Triassic

question 30

Multiple Choice

Fossils of Thrinaxodon, a species that lived during the Triassic period, have been found in both South Africa and Antarctica. Thrinaxodon had a reptile-like skeleton and laid eggs, but small depressions on the front of its skull suggest it had whiskers and, therefore, fur. Thrinaxodon may have been warm-blooded. The fossils of Thrinaxodon are consistent with the hypothesis that ________.

• A) fossils found in a given area look like the modern species in that same area
• B) the environment where it lived was very warm
• C) mammals evolved from a reptilian ancestor
• D) Antarctica and South Africa separated after Thrinaxodon went extinct

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Definitions:

F Distributed

Describes a statistical distribution used in hypothesis testing, related to the ratio of two sample variances.

Populations

In statistics, populations refer to the entire group of individuals or items of interest from which a statistical sample is drawn for analysis.

Z-test

A statistical analysis designed to identify variations between the means of two distinct populations, provided that the variances are predetermined and the size of the sample is substantial.

T-test

A statistical test used to compare the means of two groups or to compare a sample mean to a known value when variances are known or assumed to be equal.