Bringing Homologies Into Focus

Anyone who has skimmed a high school biology textbook will be familiar with the iconic examples of homology that seem inseparable from any explanation of the term: the limb structure of four-legged animals, the human tailbone and the more elaborate tail of monkeys, and the remarkable similarities am...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Evolution education & outreach 2008-10, Vol.1 (4), p.498-504
Main Author: Thanukos, Anastasia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Education
Evolutionary Biology
Homology
Learning and Instruction
Life Sciences
Sociology of Education
Teaching and Teacher Education
Views from Understanding Evolution
Wings
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Summary:Anyone who has skimmed a high school biology textbook will be familiar with the iconic examples of homology that seem inseparable from any explanation of the term: the limb structure of four-legged animals, the human tailbone and the more elaborate tail of monkeys, and the remarkable similarities among the embryological development of fish, birds, and humans. These same examples make their way from edition to edition, along with the classic illustration of an analogous structure: the wings of butterflies, birds, and bats. But is that really all there is to say about homologies and analogies? Several articles in this issue discuss these concepts more deeply in the context of eye evolution (Gregory 2008 ; Oakley and Pankey 2008 ; Piatigorsky 2008 ). Homologies and analogies, it seems, are not a black and white issue—especially when it comes to vision.
ISSN:1936-6426
1936-6434
DOI:10.1007/s12052-008-0080-5