Darwinism

Darwinism MDCAT MCQs with answers

35 past paper MCQs on Darwinism, from the Evolution unit of MDCAT Biology. The year each question appeared is shown where known; tap “Show answer” for the correct option and a short solution.

Read the notes first Practise the unit as a quiz

1.The finches of the Galapagos Islands resemble species living on the: (MDCAT 2022)

  1. northern Europe
  2. Great Britain
  3. North American mainland
  4. South American mainland
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Correct answer: (d) South American mainland

They descend from South American birds that reached the islands, which is why Darwin found the resemblance telling.

2.Which of the following is the main point of Darwinism? (MDCAT 2023)

  1. overproduction
  2. variation
  3. disuse of organs
  4. perceived unity of life
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Correct answer: (b) variation

Natural selection needs heritable variation to act on, and that is the heart of Darwin's argument.

3.Which of the following statements about natural selection is not true? (MDCAT 2024)

  1. it acts on variations that are heritable
  2. it is selected by a breeder
  3. it can improve the adaptation of a species
  4. it is regional in nature
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Correct answer: (b) it is selected by a breeder

Selection by a breeder is artificial selection; natural selection is done by the environment.

4.The main idea in Darwin's Theory of "Origin of species by natural selection" is: (UHS MDCAT 2025)

  1. Inheritance of acquired traits
  2. Use and disuse of organs
  3. Species never change
  4. Evolution occurs through gradual accumulation of adaptation through successive generations
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Correct answer: (d) Evolution occurs through gradual accumulation of adaptation through successive generations

Darwin held that small favourable variations accumulate under natural selection until a new species is formed.

5.Choose the correct pair for homology? (NUMS MDCAT 2025)

  1. Wings of birds and wings of butterfly
  2. Forelimbs of birds and fins of whales
  3. Leaves of pines and cactus
  4. Gills of fish and lungs of humans
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Correct answer: (b) Forelimbs of birds and fins of whales

A bird’s forelimb and a whale’s flipper are built on the same pentadactyl plan, so they are homologous.

6.Which chronological sequence is correct among the classes of vertebrates as evidence of evolution? (NUMS MDCAT 2025)

  1. Birds → fish → amphibians → reptiles
  2. Reptiles → birds → fishes → amphibians
  3. Fish → amphibians → reptiles → birds
  4. Amphibians → reptiles → birds → fish
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Correct answer: (c) Fish → amphibians → reptiles → birds

The fossil record runs fish, then amphibians, then reptiles, then birds.

7.Name the idea of Darwin that best explains the ability of populations to reproduce those individuals who possess beneficial traits. (SIBA MDCAT 2025)

  1. Gene flow
  2. Genetic drift
  3. Artificial selection
  4. Natural selection
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Correct answer: (d) Natural selection

Natural selection is the leaving of more offspring by the individuals whose variations suit them best.

8.According to Darwin, the main force behind evolution is: (SIBA MDCAT 2025)

  1. Migration
  2. Genetic mutation
  3. Artificial selection
  4. Natural selection
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Correct answer: (d) Natural selection

Darwin put natural selection at the centre of his account of evolution.

9.Identify the correct pair of vestigial organs: (UHS MDCAT 2024)

  1. Ear Muscles & Vermiform appendix
  2. Heart & Liver
  3. Ear Muscles & Liver
  4. Vermiform appendix & Heart
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Correct answer: (a) Ear Muscles & Vermiform appendix

The ear muscles and the vermiform appendix are reduced remnants of organs once useful.

10.Wings of birds and that of flying lizards provide evidence of: (KMU MDCAT 2024)

  1. Convergent evolution
  2. Divergent evolution
  3. No evolution
  4. Same origin
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Correct answer: (a) Convergent evolution

Unrelated animals meeting the same problem arrive at the same solution, which is convergence.

11.The embryological stages of ______ show similarity in anatomical features. (KMU MDCAT 2024)

  1. All living things
  2. All non-vertebrates
  3. All vertebrates
  4. Human, jelly fish and mouse
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Correct answer: (c) All vertebrates

All vertebrate embryos pass through a stage with a notochord, gill slits and a tail.

12.What best describes the hind leg bones seen in the whale? (KMU MDCAT 2024)

  1. Analogous to the fin of living fish
  2. Fossil structure from an extinct ancestor
  3. Homologous structure of the wings of a bat
  4. Vestigial structures that had a function in an ancestor
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Correct answer: (d) Vestigial structures that had a function in an ancestor

The reduced hind limb bones of a whale are vestiges of the legs of its land ancestors.

13.The animal species on Galapagos resemble species living on the: (UHS MDCAT 2023)

  1. Northern Europe
  2. Great Britain
  3. North American mainland
  4. South American mainland
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Correct answer: (d) South American mainland

The Galapagos species are closest to those of South America, from which their ancestors came.

14.He presented the theory of origin of species by means of natural selection: (SZABMU MDCAT 2023)

  1. Lamarck
  2. Linnaeus
  3. Hardy-Weinberg
  4. Darwin
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Correct answer: (d) Darwin

Darwin published On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.

15.The organs which are similar in function but differ in structure are called: (NUMS MDCAT 2023)

  1. Analogous organs
  2. Homologous organs
  3. Convergent organs
  4. Divergent organs
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Correct answer: (a) Analogous organs

Organs alike in work but unlike in build are analogous, and they point to convergence.

16.Which of the following type of organs are supposed to be functional in ancestral species rather than in present day species: (UHS MDCAT 2023)

  1. Vestigial organs
  2. Homologous organs
  3. Homologous organs
  4. Embryonic organs
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Correct answer: (a) Vestigial organs

A vestigial organ is a reduced remnant of one that worked in the ancestor.

17.Survival of the fittest depends upon: (PMC MDCAT 2022)

  1. Acquired characters of the organisms
  2. Genetic drift
  3. Depends in part on the hereditary consulation of the surviving individuals
  4. Natural catastrophes
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Correct answer: (c) Depends in part on the hereditary consulation of the surviving individuals

Only heritable variation can be passed on, so selection works on what is in the genes.

18.In terrestrial vertebrates, the gill slits are modified to form: (PMC MDCAT 2022)

  1. Ear muscles
  2. Eustachian tube
  3. Larynx
  4. Lungs
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Correct answer: (b) Eustachian tube

The first gill slit of the fish becomes the Eustachian tube of the land vertebrate.

19.According to Darwin, a diverse life-form could arise from: (PMC MDCAT 2022)

  1. Common ancestor
  2. Random mutation
  3. The process of special creation
  4. Inheritance of aquired characters
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Correct answer: (a) Common ancestor

Darwin traced the diversity of life to descent from a common ancestor.

20.Descent with modification means: (PMC MDCAT 2022)

  1. All organisms show resemblance
  2. Organisms do not show resemblances
  3. The organisms show resemblances but later change
  4. The organisms do not show resemblances but later become alike
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Correct answer: (c) The organisms show resemblances but later change

Descent with modification is Darwin’s phrase for species changing as they descend from an ancestor.

21.Darwin belived that: (PMC MDCAT 2022)

  1. Natural selection and adaptations are closely related
  2. Natural selection and special creation are closely related processes
  3. Use and disuse of organs and inheritance of acquired characteristics are closely related processes
  4. Evolution and mutation are closely related processes
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Correct answer: (a) Natural selection and adaptations are closely related

Selection preserves the variations that suit the organism, and those are its adaptations.

22.Which of these is a vestigial organ in whale? (PMC MDCAT 2022)

  1. Flipers
  2. Fins
  3. Lungs
  4. Pelvis and leg bones
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Correct answer: (d) Pelvis and leg bones

The reduced pelvis and leg bones of a whale are the remains of the hind limbs of its land ancestor.

23.Homologous organs indicate the: (PMC MDCAT 2022)

  1. Convergent evolution
  2. Divergent evolution
  3. Co-evolution
  4. Artificial selection
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Correct answer: (b) Divergent evolution

Organs built on one plan but put to different uses point to descent from a common ancestor.

24.According to Darwin, the most critical factor for evolution Is: (PMC MDCAT 2022)

  1. Migration
  2. Mutation
  3. Natural selection
  4. Genetic drift
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Correct answer: (c) Natural selection

Darwin put natural selection at the centre of his account.

25.The wings of a bird and the wings of a beetle are considered? (PMC Practice 2021)

  1. Taxonomic
  2. Phylogenetic
  3. Homologous
  4. Analogous
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Correct answer: (d) Analogous

They do the same work but are built on quite different plans, so they are analogous.

26.The ability of an individual to pass on its phenotype to future generations is known as: (PMC Practice 2021)

  1. Fitness
  2. Heritability
  3. Limited environmental resources
  4. Overproduction of offspring
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Correct answer: (a) Fitness

Fitness in the Darwinian sense is the ability to leave offspring like oneself.

27.The homologous organs show similarity in: (PMC Practice 2021)

  1. Shape
  2. Origin
  3. Function
  4. Size
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Correct answer: (b) Origin

Homologous organs share a plan and an origin, whatever work they are put to.

28.______ occurs because natural selection gives some alleles a better chance of survival than others: (PMC MDCAT 2020)

  1. Fitness
  2. Evolution
  3. Crossing over
  4. Artificial Selection
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Correct answer: (b) Evolution

Evolution follows from some alleles leaving more descendants than others.

29.According to the theory of natural selection, organisms produce: (UHS MDCAT 2019)

  1. Offspring according to the resources available
  2. Offspring to create resources
  3. To create resources
  4. More offspring than supported
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Correct answer: (d) More offspring than supported

More young are born than can survive, and it is among these that selection works.

30.Divergent Evolution produces: (UHS MDCAT 2018)

  1. Vital Organs
  2. Homologous Organs
  3. Vestigial Organs
  4. Analogous Organs
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Correct answer: (b) Homologous Organs

Divergence from a common ancestor leaves organs of one plan put to different uses.

31.Organs specialized to perform different functions but structurally alike are: (UHS MDCAT 2018)

  1. Analogous organs
  2. Homologous organs
  3. Autologous organs
  4. Anuclogous organs
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Correct answer: (b) Homologous organs

Organs of the same plan put to different work are homologous.

32.Organs that are functionally different but structurally alike are termed as: (UHS MDCAT 2017)

  1. Vestigial Organs
  2. Comparative embryology organs
  3. Homologous organs
  4. None of the given options
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Correct answer: (c) Homologous organs

Organs built on one plan but put to different uses are homologous.

33.Structures found in different species which are believed to have a common evolutionary origin are called: (UHS MDCAT 2016)

  1. Homologous
  2. Analogous
  3. Vestigial
  4. Fossilized
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Correct answer: (a) Homologous

Structures of common ancestry are homologous, whatever work they now do.

34.Which one of the following is considered as strong evidence of evolution? (UHS MDCAT 2016)

  1. Embryology Record
  2. Molecular Record
  3. Biochemical Record
  4. Fossil Record
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Correct answer: (d) Fossil Record

The fossil record is the direct evidence of what lived and in what order.

35.From evolutionary point of view, which respiratory protein is common in many organisms? (UHS MDCAT 2015)

  1. Cytochrome a
  2. Cytochrome b
  3. Cytochrome c
  4. Cytochrome d
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Correct answer: (c) Cytochrome c

Cytochrome c is found in almost every aerobic organism, and its sequence traces their relationships.

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