Question

Tasmanian wolf is a marsupial while wolf is a placental mammal. This shows

• A. convergent evolution
• B. divergent evolution
• C. parallelism
• D. inheritance of acquired characters

Answer 1

The correct option is A convergent evolution

Tasmanian wolf was actually a marsupial, the largest carnivorous marsupial in recent times and was closely related to the kangaroo and the wombat. Thus, the Tasmanian Wolf’s Latin name, Thylacinus cynocephalus, meaning “pouched dog with wolf head”, reflects the animal’s true nature as well as its similarity to the dog and the wolf.
The Tasmanian wolf’s resemblance to unrelated species is a result of convergent evolution, in which similar features develop separately in different species.