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 most reasonable?
The most reasonable conclusion is that the newly discovered organism is likely a predecessor or ancestor of organism X. The similarity in structures indicates a potential evolutionary relationship between the two organisms. This suggests that organism X may have evolved from the newly discovered organism, with the latter serving as an early form or evolutionary precursor.
