A scientist discovers a fossil of a new organism and places it in the fossil record. The fossil shows the organism had similar structures to organism X, Which appears later in the fossil record. Which conclusion about the organisms is the most reasonable? Is the answer the fossils are from an organism that is an ancestor of organism x?
Yes, the most reasonable conclusion would be that the fossils are from an organism that is an ancestor of organism X.
The fossil record provides evidence of the evolutionary history of life on Earth, showing that organisms have changed over time. Similar structures in the fossil of the new organism and organism X suggest a connection between them, with the new organism potentially representing an earlier form or ancestor of organism X. This conclusion is supported by the principle of common descent, which suggests that living organisms share a common evolutionary ancestor.