Recently discovered fossil remains strongly suggest that the Australian egg-laying mammals of today are a branch of the main stem of mammalian evolution rather than developing independently from a common ancestor of mammals more than 220 million years ago. (A) rather than developing independently from (B) rather than a type that developed independently from (C) rather than a type whose development was independent of (D) instead of developing independently from (E) instead of a development that was independent of https://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/10/science/odd-fossil-may-be-a-clue-to-mamal-evolution.html IN a discovery that could change thinking about early mammal evolution, scientists have found the fossil jaw of a platypus-like animal that lived 110 million years ago in Australia. The specimen represents the oldest known mammal of the monotreme subclass and is about 85 million years older than any previous fossil mammals found in Australia. Analysis of the jaw and teeth has led some paleontologists to believe that monotremes, the only egg-laying mammals , are more closely related to other mammals than had been generally assumed. The other two groups of living mammals are marsupials, distinguished by the pouch in which they carry and nurse their young, and placentals, which carry their young longer in the uterus and thus give birth to better developed offspring. The authors said the Lightning Ridge monotreme, which they named Steropodon galmani, provides ''the strongest support'' for the hypothesis that monotremes are a branch off the main stem of mammalian evolution rather than developing independently from a common ancestor of mammals more than 220 million years ago. The branching might have occurred as recently as 150 million years ago. Can anyone explain what's the difference between "rather than" and "instead of"?? Took a long time to eliminate the answer because i could not decide which one (rather than/instead of) is better. Thanks,

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Recently discovered fossil remains strongly suggest that the Australia

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Elite097

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05 Jul 2023, 21:39

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KarishmaB EducationAisle why cant mammals be a development ? Why do we necessarily need 'type'?

EducationAisle

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why cant mammals be a development ? Why do we necessarily need 'type'?

Perhaps one way to look at this would be that the sentence is talking about “Australian egg-laying mammals”, which is obviously as specific type of mammal.

Elite097

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12 Dec 2023, 04:51

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Elite097

why cant mammals be a development ? Why do we necessarily need 'type'?

Perhaps one way to look at this would be that the sentence is talking about “Australian egg-laying mammals”, which is obviously as specific type of mammal.

EducationAisle what would be an example of a development in this context?

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Elite097

A development is usually an an event (something that happened), so it would be odd to refer to animals as a development. However, even if we allowed this, E would fail on meaning grounds. The idea here is that egg-laying mammals did not develop independently from other mammals. They are part of the main developmental stream. E is talking about the egg-laying mammals evolving "independent of" their own ancestors. That doesn't have any sensible meaning, and it doesn't fit what the other choices are trying to say.

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