Which of the following is not true of all horizontally oriented phylogenetic tre

Question

Which of the following is not true of all horizontally oriented phylogenetic trees, where time advances to the right?

A. The more branch points there are, the more taxa are likely to be represented.
B. The common ancestor represented by the rightmost branch point existed more recently in time than the common ancestors represented at branch points located to the left.
C. The more branch points that occur between two taxa, the more divergent their DNA sequences should be.
D. Each branch point represents a point in absolute time.
E. Organisms represented at the base of such trees are ancestral to those represented at higher levels.

Explanation / Answer

An example of a horizontally oriented tree can be found here: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2180/7/107/figure/F5?highres=y (many examples are easy to find with a google search) Notice that time intervals at branch points are not necessarily given in absolute years but in relative time periods and estimates. Therefore, D is the untrue answer. Going through the answer choices to be thorough: A - branch points necessarily require new taxonomic classifications, so more branches mean more taxonomy B - since the tree goes left to right in evolutionary time, any common ancestor on the right represents a more recent branch point than on the left C - as divergent evolution occurs, species become more different on the micro and macro levels. Over time, this is apparent in accumulation of nucleotide differences. D - see above E - opposite of choice A, also true

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