What term refers to structures shared by related species inherited from a common ancestor?

What term refers to structures shared by related species inherited from a common ancestor?

• A. Pedigree
• B. Nondisjunction
• C. Homologous Structures
• D. Analogous Structures

Answer: (C)

Homologous structures are anatomical features in related species that come from a common ancestor. They may be used for different purposes now, but their underlying bone patterns or developmental origins are similar, reflecting shared ancestry. For example, the forelimbs of humans, cats, whales, and bats have the same basic bone arrangement even though they perform different functions, illustrating descent with modification over time. Other terms don’t fit because a pedigree describes a family’s lines of inheritance, not shared anatomical features; nondisjunction is an error in chromosome separation during cell division; and analogous structures look alike and perform similar jobs but arise independently in different lineages, not from a shared ancestor.

Homologous structures are anatomical features in related species that come from a common ancestor. They may be used for different purposes now, but their underlying bone patterns or developmental origins are similar, reflecting shared ancestry. For example, the forelimbs of humans, cats, whales, and bats have the same basic bone arrangement even though they perform different functions, illustrating descent with modification over time.

Other terms don’t fit because a pedigree describes a family’s lines of inheritance, not shared anatomical features; nondisjunction is an error in chromosome separation during cell division; and analogous structures look alike and perform similar jobs but arise independently in different lineages, not from a shared ancestor.