Homoplasy

Not to be confused with Homoplasmy.

Homoplasy, in biology and phylogenetics, is the term used to describe a feature that has been gained or lost independently in separate lineages over the course of evolution. This is different from homology, which is the term used to characterize the similarity of features that can be parsimoniously explained by common ancestry.[1] Homoplasy can arise from both similar selection pressures acting on adapting species, and the effects of genetic drift.[2][3]

Homoplasy is the similarity in a feature that is not parsimoniously explained by descent from a common ancestor.

Most often, homoplasy is viewed as a similarity in morphological characters. However, homoplasy may also appear in other character types, such as similarity in the genetic sequence,[4][5] life cycle types[6] or even behavioral traits.[7][5]

  1. ^ Torres-Montúfar A, Borsch T, Ochoterena H (May 2018). "When Homoplasy Is Not Homoplasy: Dissecting Trait Evolution by Contrasting Composite and Reductive Coding". Systematic Biology. 67 (3): 543–551. doi:10.1093/sysbio/syx053. PMID 28645204.
  2. ^ Stearns SC, Hoekstra RF (2005). Evolution: an introduction (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199255634.
  3. ^ Hall AR, Colegrave N (March 2008). "Decay of unused characters by selection and drift". Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 21 (2): 610–7. doi:10.1111/j.1420-9101.2007.01473.x. PMID 18081745. S2CID 11165522.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Reece2011 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b Sanderson MJ, Hufford L (1996). Homoplasy: The Recurrence of Similarity in Evolution. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, Inc. ISBN 0-12-618030-X.
  6. ^ Silberfeld T, Leigh JW, Verbruggen H, Cruaud C, de Reviers B, Rousseau F (August 2010). "A multi-locus time-calibrated phylogeny of the brown algae (Heterokonta, Ochrophyta, Phaeophyceae): Investigating the evolutionary nature of the "brown algal crown radiation"". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 56 (2): 659–74. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2010.04.020. PMID 20412862.
  7. ^ de Queiroz A, Wimberger PH (February 1993). "The usefulness of behavior for phylogeny estimation: levels of homoplasy in behavioral and morphological characters". Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution. 47 (1): 46–60. doi:10.1111/j.1558-5646.1993.tb01198.x. PMID 28568085. S2CID 205778379.