noun
- similarity in structure or form between organisms that is due to common ancestry rather than adaptation to similar environments
Usage: biology; evolutionary biology; technical term
Examples
- The homophyly of the human arm and the bat wing suggests they evolved from a common ancestor.
- Biologists use homophyly to trace evolutionary relationships between different species.
- The presence of homophyly in skeletal structures helps scientists construct phylogenetic trees.
- Homophyly indicates that two organisms share a more recent common ancestor than organisms lacking similar traits.