BONUS Assignment – Phylogenetic Tree of your favorite living organism

Due: March 21st

Description
The purpose of this assignment is: 1. To provide extra points for those that want to show they
care about their academics enough to put in the extra effort, and 2. To demonstrate knowledge
of phylogenetic trees and the relationships between organisms. The final project will be worth
25 extra credit points. No time will be given in class to complete this assignment. Do this on
your own time.
Instructions
Draw a phylogenetic tree on a large piece of paper, which are available in class, of your favorite
extant (living) organism. Everyone must choose a different organism, so talk with me before
you start. The tree must begin at the root of the Tree of Life and contain all of the steps
showing: Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species as well as any
branches from those steps. Also, if intermediate steps are included between for example, Class
and Order, mention them on the tree but don’t include them in detail.
Use the exemplar of Homo Sapiens on the wall in class as a template. Take a picture of it for
reference.
Here is a checklist of things you need to consider and include to receive full points:

o Complete phylogeny including labels of all the classification steps. Domain, Kingdom,
Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species

o At each step above, list all of the branches of the tree

o Quality work, no sloppiness. Make sure you take your time to make it look professional

o Clearly legible and handwritten

o Unique choice of living organism