The acquisition of a key evolutionary innovation by a species gives evidence for the concept of ____.

A) uniformitarianism
B) gradualism
C) convergence
D) adaptive radiation
E) special creation

Adaptive Radiation

Macroevolutionary pattern in which a lineage undergoes a burst of genetic divergences that gives rise to many species.

Evolutionary Innovation

The development of new structures, behaviors, or physiological processes in a species that enhances survival, reproduction, or adaptation to environmental changes.

Uniformitarianism

The principle suggesting that Earth's geologic processes acted in the same manner and with essentially the same intensity in the past as they do in the present, and that this consistency accounts for all geological changes.