Some questions on evolution...

[camel]

Good afternoon! I need to have the following information, if anyone knows:
By what analogy can one understand why the vertebrate land animals are called tetrapods?
Why did flowering plants arrive so late in the history of life?
Why did the primate brain develop so much relative to other mammals?

I am not a biologist and I would be grateful if somebody could help me. Thank you very much!

[JackBean]

Maybe because they have four legs?
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/tetrapod

[Jillo725]

1) four legs
2) most flowering plants require bugs for fertilization. animals came after plants
3) i think that's a philosophical question. who says humans are the most developed?

[camel]

Thank you very much both for your answers!

[Darby]

Flowering plants commonly use wind pollination,and that's almost certainly the ancestral condition. Coevolution with insects may have helped diversity, but it's not the distinguishing characteristic of the group.

Asking why they showed up late is kind of like asking why placental mammals showed up late - they couldn't "show up" until the right trail of mutations led to their style of reproduction, but the advantage gained from that style helped them outcompete the gymnosperms and marsupials.

[jonboo]

actually animals came before flowering plants by about 400 million years. most animal phyla appeared in the cambrian period 542 mya and flowering plants didnt come along til the "age of the dinosaurs" about 140 million yrs ago

[jonboo]

flowering plants did not arise til the cretaceous period, which is pretty recent in the history of life on earth.