Convergent evolution
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Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in species of different lineages. Convergent evolution creates analogous structures that have similar form or function but were no
Red fox skeleton
Skulls of thylacine (left), timber wolf (right)
A mormyrid electric fish of Africa
Vertebrate wings are partly homologous (from forelimbs), but analogous as organs of flight in (1) pterosaurs, (2) bats, (3) birds, evolved separately.
Ichthyosauria
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Ichthyosauria is an order of large extinct marine reptiles sometimes referred to as "ichthyosaurs", although the term is also used for wider clades in which the order resides.
Convergent evolution
…indicate either positive selection or relaxed purifying selection. Swimming animals including fish such as herrings, marine mammals such as dolphins, and ichthyosaurs (of the Mesozoic) all converged on the same streamlined shape. A similar shape and swimming adaptations are even present in molluscs, such as Phylliroe…
Ichthyosaurus communis in London
An ichthyosaur and plesiosaur by Édouard Riou, 1863. This old representation of a plesiosaur lifting its head is not accurate and physically impossible.
The skull of specimen NHMUK PV R1158 found by Joseph Anning in 1811
The torso of specimen NHMUK PV R1158 found by Mary Anning in 1812