homologous vs analogous - Biology Forum

last updated by

mith 18 years, 7 months ago

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- April 9, 2006 at 12:35 am #4368
  bionewbie
  Participant
  Would somebody mind explaining to me the differences between homologous vs analogous parts? I have a lot of trouble with understanding the connection between the two terms.
- April 9, 2006 at 1:39 am #45458
  kiekyon
  Participant
  analogous=similar in function but not evolutionary origin
  homologous=similar in function and in evolutionary origin
- April 9, 2006 at 1:43 am #45459
  plasmidmap
  Participant
  Homologous traits are similar because they share a common evolutionary origin (like the leg of a horse and the leg of a donkey).
  Analogous traits are similar because they are used similarily but were developed separately and do not have a common evolutionary origin (like an insect wing and a bat wing). They are the product of convergent evolution.
- April 9, 2006 at 2:18 am #45463
  bionewbie
  Participant
  this may sound really silly, but how would you know that they are part of the evolutionary history or share common ancestors?
- April 9, 2006 at 4:57 am #45475
  mith
  Participant
  very carefully 🙂
  There’s actually minute differences that you can find
  for example megaphylls and microphylls are two types of "leaf" structures. Look it up on wikipedia
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