While studying evolution, a student comes across a cladogram that includes clades like amphibia, reptilia, aves, and mammalia. What must be the basal clade? plantae chordata nonchordata
Chordata.
(Animals with spinal nervous cord)
Animals cant come under plants, can they?
And as well animals cant be under a non chordata because animals have spinal cords.
Answer:
The correct answer is chordata.
Explanation:
The Reptilia, Amphibia, Mammalia, and the Aves all come under the kingdom Animalia, and all are the part of the basal clade Chordata. This signifies that all these species during a certain point of their life exhibited a notochord. A notochord refers to a cartilaginous rod of skeleton that supports the body in all the embryonic and in some of the adult chordate animals.