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Meaning of HOMOPLASY

Webster's 1913 Dictionary
 
 Definition: 
\Ho*mop"la*sy\, n. [Homo- + Gr. ? to form, mold.]
(Biol.)
See {Homogeny}.
 
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Biology Dictionary
 
 Definition: Organs or other bodily structures within different species which resemble each other and have the same functions, but which did not have a common ancestral origin and development. Instead, the parts arose via convergent evolution and are thus analogies.
 
Glossary
 
 Definition: a similarity that is not homologous. Homoplasy can arise from parallelism, convergence, analogy, and chance.
 

 

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