Convergent evolution is when unrelated species develop similar traits to adapt to challenges. Examples include the wings of pterosaurs, bats, and birds, and the body shape of the crocodile. Spines and similarities between marsupials and placental mammals are also common examples.
Convergent evolution is a common theme in animal evolution. It occurs when two unrelated species independently evolve similar traits to cope with specific evolutionary challenges, such as living in ice-cold water or eating ants. Sometimes convergent evolution is so powerful that creatures that started out as completely different animals begin to look almost the same, as is the case with the skulls of the extinct marsupial Thylacine and the living gray wolf.
There are hundreds or even thousands of examples of convergent evolution in nature. The wings of pterosaurs, bats and birds have many similarities in structure, even if they are only very distantly related. Convergent evolution has occurred among the giant armadillo of North America, the giant anteater of South America, the giant pangolin of Africa, and the spiny anteater (echidna) of Oceania. These animals all have a similar body shape, including a long proboscis, due to their adaptations to consumer ants, even though their most recent common ancestor is more than 155 million years old and looks nothing like them.
Another classic example of convergent evolution are spines, which are found in a variety of small mammalian groups, including porcupines (placental mammals), echidnas (monotremes), and tenrecs (the only Madagascar animals that are external placentals). The re-emergence of spines suggests both their broad evolutionary utility and the fact that spines can evolve incrementally from a variety of mammalian starting points. The situation is similar with spines found on plants such as cacti and many others. These spines have evolved through convergent evolution many separate times and in separate places.
Some of the most obvious examples of convergent evolution involve the similarities between marsupials and placental mammals. For example, the marsupial mole is very similar to the placental mole, the marsupial Mulgara is like the placental mouse, the marsupial Tasmanian devil has similarities to the placental badger. Similarly, the extinct marsupial lion had retractable claws, like modern-day felines. The similarity between the thylacine and the gray wolf has already been mentioned.
One of the most consistent and popular convergent targets throughout evolutionary history has been the body shape of the crocodile. Some labyrinthodont amphibians, which were among the first land animals and lived between 350 and 210 million years ago, had the body shape of a crocodile, even though they were amphibians rather than reptiles. The first crocodile-like archosaurs evolved about 250 million years ago. Phytosaurs, which resemble crocodilians more than any other group mentioned here, flourished in the Late Triassic (220 – 200 million years ago). Champosaurs, another similar-looking group of archosaurs, evolved in the Late Triassic or Early Jurassic, also about 200 million years ago. Crocodiles, a large group of crocodile-like animals that includes modern crocodilians, have been around since 230 million years ago. Modern crocodilians only evolved in the Late Cretaceous, about 85 million years ago.
There are countless other examples of convergent evolution. Familiarize yourself with enough animals and convergent patterns always emerge.
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