Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Tetrapod. A tetrapod (/ ˈtɛtrəˌpɒd /; [5] from Ancient Greek τετρα- (tetra-) 'four' and πούς (poús) 'foot') is any four- limbed vertebrate animal of the superclass Tetrapoda (/ tɛˈtræpədə /). [6] Tetrapods include all extant and extinct amphibians and amniotes, with the latter in turn evolving into two major clades, the ...
Comparative anatomy is the study of similarities and differences in the anatomy of different species. It is closely related to evolutionary biology and phylogeny [1] (the evolution of species). The science began in the classical era, continuing in the early modern period with work by Pierre Belon who noted the similarities of the skeletons of ...
Here is a list of examples in which unrelated proteins have similar functions with different structure. The convergent orientation of the catalytic triad in the active site of serine and cysteine proteases independently in over 20 enzyme superfamilies. [252] The use of an N-terminal threonine for proteolysis.
The evolution of tetrapods began about 400 million years ago in the Devonian Period with the earliest tetrapods evolved from lobe-finned fishes. [1] Tetrapods (under the apomorphy-based definition used on this page) are categorized as animals in the biological superclass Tetrapoda, which includes all living and extinct amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.
An evolutionary tree (of Amniota, for example, the last common ancestor of mammals and reptiles, and all its descendants) illustrates the initial conditions causing evolutionary patterns of similarity (e.g., all Amniotes produce an egg that possesses the amnios) and the patterns of divergence amongst lineages (e.g., mammals and reptiles ...
Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniotic, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all tetrapods excluding the amniotes (tetrapods with an amniotic membrane, such as modern reptiles, birds and mammals).
Organisms that share similar environments will often develop similar physical features, a process known as convergent evolution. Both sharks and dolphins have similar body forms, yet are only distantly related—sharks are fish and dolphins are mammals. Such similarities are a result of both populations being exposed to the same selective ...
The term amniote comes from the amnion, which derives from Greek ἀμνίον (amnion), which denoted the membrane that surrounds a fetus. The term originally described a bowl in which the blood of sacrificed animals was caught, and derived from ἀμνός (amnos), meaning "lamb". [17]