Homologous Trait
Two different species
that possess a homologous trait would be humans and cats. Even though both of the species may look completely different the similarities lies in between the anatomy of both. the least noticeable but amazing similar trait would be in the limbs.
The limbs of both humans and cats are built similarly. The human arm contains a bone structure of the humerus, radius, ulna, carpals, metacarpals, and the phalanges. the main differences between the structure would be where the support is in the limbs. Cats have more in phalanges because that is their main base of their paw when they walk and their ulna is longer then a humans to support the humerus and radius.
Researchers recently found
that the common ancestor of these two species would’ve been a small rat like
insect eater that lived a few years after the dinosaurs but is now extinct
Analogous Trait
The two different species that possess analogous traits are a penguin and a fish. you might think these animals are completely different but they both have fin like structures.
These fin like structures are very important to both animals. they help make it easier for both species to maneuver through their marine environments. but since one is a fish and the other a bird the trait can not be homologous. it is made obvious that the fin evolved for both species because it was their way of being able to adapt to their environments The ancestors i found for both of these species were very different. researchers found that the penguin's oldest ancestor was a larger 36 million year bird they named Icadyptes salasi. The fishes oldest ancestor was a smaller fish that they traced back over 530 million years ago named ostracodermsso. i dont believe there could be a genetically common descent because of how different both species are. It makes sense that both of these species evolved with fins because it was what was necessary for them to adapt and survive in their environments.
Hi Ileanna,
ReplyDeleteI liked how you compared humans and cats. I find it interesting how ourselves and just a house pet cause share something similar. I also made my analogous post about the penguin and a fish. Even though they both can swim undersea, it is cool that the penguin is mainly on land and they still are similar. Good post.
I was going to choose the human and the cat for my homologous traits, but I thought it would not work. Clearly I was wrong seeing as how you were able to compare the two. I find it interesting how two completely different animals like a penguin and a fish can have similar traits. I would have never seen the similarities between these two animals had it not been for your post.
ReplyDeleteGood discussion and explanation of your homologous pairing.
ReplyDelete"Researchers recently found that the common ancestor of these two species would’ve been a small rat like insect eater that lived a few years after the dinosaurs but is now extinct."
Correct, but how does that help us confirm that these are homologous traits? Both are mammals, so both arose from a common mammalian ancestor who possessed this archaic mammalian trait who passed the trait onto these two organisms. That is why we see the similarities, because of common descent, with differences explained by function.
Good discussion on your analogous traits.
Finding an ancestor of each trait doesn't help confirm analogy, and you can't just just by how different they appear. You need to figure out, in general, who the common ancestor would be, in this case an archaic fish. The question is, did the trait in question arise from that common ancestor or did it evolve independently in at least one of the organisms? In this case, the common ancestor was a fish, so it is likely that the modern fish did inherit its fin structure from that common ancestor. But did the penguin? The penguin is a bird and the "fin" is an evolved bird wing. We know that wings didn't evolve until birds split off from their reptilian ancestor, long after the split with the common ancestor of the fish. This is what we need to confirm that the penguin "fin" arose independently from the common ancestor with the fish and therefore these traits are analogous.
Good images.