Industrial Melanism: Natural Selection Evidence — NEET Biology
📚 Practice ConceptAnother interesting observation supporting evolution by natural selection comes from England. In a collection of moths made in 1850s, i.e., before industrialisation set in, it was observed that there were more white-winged moths on trees than dark-winged or melanised moths. However, in the collection carried out from the same area, but after industrialisation, i.e., in 1920, there were more dark-winged moths in the same area, i.e., the proportion was reversed.
Which of the following statements are correct? S1: Paleontological evidence involves the study of fossils found in different sedimentary layers, which helps in determining the geological period of extinct life forms. S2: The forelimbs of whales, bats, cheetah, and human represent analogous organs, indicating convergent evolution towards similar functions. S3: Ernst Haeckel's embryological proposition, which stated that embryos never pass through the adult stages of other animals, was widely accepted as strong evidence for evolution. S4: The observation of industrial melanism in moths in England provides an example of natural selection, where dark-winged moths became more prevalent in polluted areas. S5: Biochemical similarities in proteins and genes across diverse organisms suggest a common ancestry, supporting the concept of evolution.
Through deep analysis of NEET and NTA, 88 of 90 questions from the NEET 2026 paper were matched straight from the MedicNEET Biology question bank.
88/90MedicNEET's Biology question bank is built from the same NCERT lines NTA picks repeatedly. Not random MCQs — questions crafted exactly like NTA crafts them.