Serial homology is a special type of
homology
Homology may refer to:
Sciences
Biology
*Homology (biology), any characteristic of biological organisms that is derived from a common ancestor
* Sequence homology, biological homology between DNA, RNA, or protein sequences
*Homologous chrom ...
, defined by Owen as "representative or repetitive relation in the segments of the same organism."
[R:Webster 1913 in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913] Ernst Haeckel preferred the term "homotypy" for the same phenomenon.
Classical examples of serial homologies are the development of forelimbs and hind limbs of
tetrapod
Tetrapods (; ) are four-limbed vertebrate animals constituting the superclass Tetrapoda (). It includes extant and extinct amphibians, sauropsids ( reptiles, including dinosaurs and therefore birds) and synapsids (pelycosaurs, extinct theraps ...
s and the iterative structure of the
vertebrae
The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic i ...
.
See also
*
Deep homology
In evolutionary developmental biology, the concept of deep homology is used to describe cases where growth and differentiation processes are governed by genetic mechanisms that are homologous and deeply conserved across a wide range of spec ...
*
Evolutionary developmental biology
References
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Evolutionary biology
Comparative anatomy