Need a translator? Translator tool. What is the pronunciation of analogous? Browse anally. Test your vocabulary with our fun image quizzes. Image credits.
Word of the Day sweetheart. Blog Outsets and onsets! Read More. November 08, To top. Take a look at the figure below. The bones that form human fingers were inherited from an ancestor shared by all mammals. Bats, dogs, and whales have the same bones.
However, some of them have evolved into acquiring unique or distinct features. For example, bats have acquired wings, dogs walk on them, and whales adapted fins. As we have discussed above, the bones of the forelimbs of humans and bats have the same morphological structure and they share the same embryonic origin.
Even though these structures have the same fundamental skeletal structures they evolved to serve different functions. However, there is a delicate membrane called a patagium stretching between the arm and the finger bones. The membrane is an extension of skin made up of muscles, nerves, blood vessels, and connective tissues. As opposed to homologous structures, analogous structures had evolved separately in different periods serving a similar function.
Fins of fish and flippers of the whale mammals are an example. These structures have evolved from unrelated animals and yet are used for swimming. The analogous structures may be dissimilar concerning anatomy whereas the homologous structure may have the same anatomical features. Homologous structures share similar developmental patterns; analogous structures do not.
We pointed out earlier that analogous structures have evolved by convergent evolution having dissimilar or unrelated ancestors. These structures do not necessarily have the same anatomical features, and they also have a different developmental origin. These common traits evolve independently of each other.
The evolution of these structures is associated with how the species make adaptations in a similar environment. All these analogous structures are evidence of evolution, which implies that the species evolve in response to their environment. Natural selection favored the features that enable the species to adapt, survive, and thrive. They may have evolved diverse features from a common lineage but the function may well serve one that suits their ecological niche.
We conclude that all these analogous structures are evidence that different species evolve somehow in correspondence but independently. As discussed above, individuals develop analogous structures independently and at different times.
All creatures evolved wings to overcome the same evolutionary problem: how to fly through the air. However, all of them evolved wings on different occasions throughout history. Insects were the first to develop these structures, propelling their bodies and making them through the air.
They make it possible by using parts of their exoskeletons to pass air through. The definition of analogous is something that is like something else in certain ways. Similar in chemical properties and differing in chemical structure only with respect to one element or group.
Having analogy ; corresponding to something else; bearing some resemblance or proportion;—often followed by "to". Similar or comparable in certain respects. Similar in function but not in origin and structure. Analogous illustrations to any amount may be drawn from Mammals. Analogous to this, among other nations, there were soldiers called Draconarii.
New Word List Word List. Save This Word! See synonyms for analogous on Thesaurus. See antonyms for analogous on Thesaurus.
0コメント