BSC 2010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 32: Synapomorphy, Convergent Evolution, Paraphyly

• School: University of Florida
• Department: Biology - Biological Sciences
• Course: BSC 2010
• Professor: Oppenheimer, Miyamoto, Gillooly

Document Summary

Bsc 2010 lecture 32 reading and understanding phylogenies: all of life is connected through its evolutionary history, all of life is related through a common ancestor. Phylogeny- the evolutionary history of these relationships. When a derived form of a trait is shared by multiple taxa that provides evidence that they share a common ancestor. These traits are called synapomorphies for that group. Synapomorphies are a subset of traits called homologies: these are traits that are, shared by two or more species, inherited from a common ancestor. Similar traits that were not inherited from a common ancestor are called homoplasies: convergent evolution- superficially similar traits may evolve independently in different lineages. In an evolutionary reversal, a character may revert from a derived state back to an ancestral state. Synapomorphy- shared because it was derived in the most recent common ancestor. Symplesiomorphy- shared because both retained ancestral from of the trait.