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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What do we not know about mass extinction?
(a) Why mass extinction no longer exists.
(b) Why mass extinction is so predictable.
(c) Why mass extinction will never happen again.
(d) Why mass extinction worked as it did.

2. According to Dolf Seilacher, what did early eukaryotes exhibit?
(a) A simplicity that could have led to narrower diversity.
(b) A complexity that could have led to narrower diversity.
(c) A simplicity that could have led to more diversity.
(d) A complexity that could have led to more diversity.

3. What kind of category was it?
(a) The catch-all category.
(b) The memorable category.
(c) The satisfactory category.
(d) The classifying category.

4. What prevented Collins from excavating at Walcott's quarry?
(a) Ecological reasons.
(b) Geological reasons.
(c) Philosophical reasons.
(d) Marginal reasons.

5. What is Canadaspis?
(a) A crustacean.
(b) A squid.
(c) A nervous system.
(d) A carapace.

6. Where did Collins find another dig site?
(a) Five miles south of the original quarry.
(b) On the other side of the mountains.
(c) In Alaska.
(d) Five miles north of the original quarry.

7. What did Bruton and Whittington do in 1983 in a monograph?
(a) Discuss Yohoia and Leanchoilia.
(b) Observe Nerella and Emeraldella.
(c) Analyze Emeraldella and Leanchoilia.
(d) Analyze Leanchoilia and Nerella.

8. What kind of interpretation did Morris want of the Burgess Shale fossils?
(a) Lenient.
(b) Grand.
(c) Morose.
(d) Radical.

9. What new view did Whittington now understand?
(a) No Burgess fossils fit within any known taxonomy.
(b) Few Burgess fossils cannot be placed in any known taxonomy.
(c) Many Burgess fossils fit within one known taxonomy.
(d) Many Burgess fossils cannot be placed in any known taxonomy.

10. How did Gould come to understand the Burgess Shale?
(a) A "Palentologic Fortune."
(b) A "Mesozoic Mishap."
(c) A "Cambrian Generality."
(d) A "Pre-Cambrian Finality."

11. What happened from 1971 through 1978 that changed everything?
(a) Sporadic leaps in clarity.
(b) Two months of pondering.
(c) Gradually.
(d) Years of scientific debate.

12. How many general Burgess revisions did we acquire?
(a) Three.
(b) Six.
(c) Five.
(d) One.

13. How can Odaraia be described?
(a) The smallest trivalve arthropod in the shale.
(b) The largest vertebrate in the shale.
(c) The largest bivalve arthropod in the shale.
(d) The largest trivalve arthropod in the shale.

14. Why did Whittington's next classification pose a problem?
(a) Yohoia cannot be classified with an arthropod group.
(b) Whittington loses his classification charts.
(c) Naraoia cannot be classified with an arthropod group.
(d) His tools malfunction.

15. What is the classification of animal species specifically warned to not be made on alone?
(a) Time and timing of the discovery.
(b) Five or more paleontologists.
(c) The basis of similarities and differences.
(d) Appearance, function and historical context.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the third stage of the fauna?

2. What is the seventh stage of development about?

3. What type of example is Aysehaia?

4. What adjectives describe Morris?

5. What did Act 3 explain?

(see the answer keys)

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