Animal examples

Mammals

• The marsupial Thylacine and placental Canids.
• Several mammal groups have independently evolved prickly protrusions of the skin, called spines - echidnas (monotremes), hedgehogs (insectivores), Old World porcupines (rodents) and New World porcupines (a separate group of rodents). In this case, because the two groups of porcupines are relatively closely related, they'd be considered to be an example of parallel evolution; neither echidnas nor hedgehogs, however, are closely related to rodents at all. In fact, the last common ancestor of all four groups was a contemporary of the dinosaurs.
• Cat-like, sabre-toothed predators evolved in three distinct lineages of mammals — sabre-toothed cats, Nimravids (false sabre-tooths), and the marsupial thylacosmilids. Gorgonopsids and creodonts also developed long canines, but that's the only physical similarity.
• A number of mammals have developed claws and long, sticky tongues that allow them to open the homes of social insects (for example ants and termites) and eat them. These include the four species of anteater, about 20 species of armadillo, eight species of pangolin, the African aardvark, four species of echidna, and the Australian numbat.
• Koalas of Australasia have evolved fingerprints, very similar to those of humans.
• The Australian honey possum has developed a long tongue for taking nectar from flowers, the same sort of structure that butterflies possess to accomplish the same task.

  Avian and Non-avian Dinosaurs

• Ornithischian (bird-hipped) dinosaurs had a pelvis shape similar to that of birds, but avian dinosaurs evolved from saurischian (lizard-hipped) dinosaurs.
• The Little Auk of the north Atlantic (Charadriiformes) and the diving petrels of the southern oceans (Procellariiformes) are remarkably similar in appearance and habits.
• The similar evolution of penguins in the Southern Hemisphere and flightless wing-propelled diving auks in the Northern Hemisphere - the Atlantic Great Auk and the Pacific mancallines.
• Vultures are a result of convergent evolution: both Old World vultures and New World vultures eat carrion, but Old World vultures are in the eagle and hawk family and use eyesight for food discovery; the New World vultures are related to storks and use the sense of smell (as well as sight) to find carrion. In both cases they search for food by soaring, circle over carrion, and group in trees, and both have featherless necks. Image:Nubianvulture.jpeg|Nubian vulture, an Old World vulture Image:Turkey_vulture_profile.jpg|Turkey vulture, a New World vulture image:Convergent evolution 12.JPG|Hummingbird, a New World bird, with Sunbird, an old world bird
• Hummingbirds and Sunbirds. The former live in South America and belong to a distinct order, while the latter live in Africa and are a family in the order Passeriformes.
• Certain longclaws (Macronyx) and meadowlarks (Sturnella) have essentially the same striking plumage pattern. The former inhabit Africa and the latter the Americas, and they belong to entirely different lineages of Passerida. While they're ecologically quite similar, no satisfying explanation exists for the convergent plumage; it's best explained by sheer chance.

  Other

• The similarities in diet and activity patterns between the thorny devil (Moloch horridus) and the Texas horned lizard (Phrynosoma cornutum) both in different clades.
• Modern Crocodilians, and prehistoric phytosaurs, champsosaurs, and certain labyrinthodont amphibians. The resemblance between the crocodilians and phytosaurs in particular is quite striking.
• The Neotropical poison dart frog and the Mantella of Madagascar have independently developed similar mechanisms for obtaining alkaloids from a diet of ants and storing the toxic chemicals in skin glands. They have also independently evolved similar bright skin colors that warn predators of their toxicity–(by the opposite of crypsis, namely aposematism).
• Assassin spiders are a group comprising two lineages that evolved independently. They have very long necks and fangs proportionately larger than those of any other spider, and hunt other spiders by snagging them from a distance.
• The smelling organs of the terrestrial coconut crab are similar to those of insects.
• The body shape of the prehistoric fish-like reptile Ophthalmosaurus and other ichthyosaurians, dolphins (aquatic mammals), and tuna (scombrid fish).
• The brachiopods and bivalve molluscs, which both have very similar shells.
• The limpet-like form in several lines of gastropods: "true" limpets, pulmonate siphonariid limpets and several lineages of pulmonate freshwater limpets.
• Death Adders strongly resemble true vipers, but are in fact elapids.
• Large Tegu lizards of South America have converged in form and ecology with Monitor lizards, which are not present in the Americas
• Chiclids of South America and Sunfish of North America are strikingly similar in morphology, ecology and behavior. ThePeacock Bass and Large Mouth Bass are excellent examples.

Plant examples

ABAC is a database of convergently evolved protein interaction interfaces. Examples comprise fibronectin/long chain cytokines, NEF/SH2, cyclophilin/capsid proteins. Details are described here.Further Information

Get more info on 'Convergent Evolution'.

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