Question

homework - evidence of evolution
bats and birds are only very distantly related, and both evolved wings for flight in very different evolutionary pathways. what is the term that describes the wing structures that these species evolved?
○ analogous structures
○ divergent structures
○ embryonic structures
○ homologous structures

Explanation:

• Analogous structures are structures that have similar functions but different evolutionary origins. Bats (mammals) and birds (aves) evolved wings independently (different evolutionary pathways) for flight (similar function).
• Divergent structures would imply a common origin that has diverged, which is not the case here as their wings have different origins.
• Embryonic structures refer to structures seen during embryonic development, which is not relevant to the question about the evolved wing structures for flight.
• Homologous structures have a common evolutionary origin but may have different functions now (e.g., human arm and bat wing - common mammalian origin but human arm for grasping, bat wing for flight). But in this case, the key is different evolutionary origins (bats and birds are distantly related) with same function (flight), so not homologous.

Answer:

analogous structures