Comparative anatomy is the study of similarities and differences in the anatomy of organisms. It is closely related to evolutionary biology and phylogeny (the evolution of species). Anatomical drawing of the human muscles from the Encyclopédie. ... A crab is an example of an organism. ... Evolutionary biology is a subfield of biology concerned with the origin and descent of species, as well as their change, multiplication, and diversity over time. ... In biology, phylogenetics (Greek: phylon = tribe, race and genetikos = relative to birth, from genesis = birth) is the study of evolutionary relatedness among various groups of organisms (e. ... In 1832, while travelling on the Beagle, naturalist Charles Darwin collected giant fossils in South America. ...

Two major concepts of comparative anatomy are:

1. Homologous structures - structures (body parts/anatomy) which are similar in different species because the species have common descent. They may or may not perform the same function. An example is the forelimb structure shared by cats and whales.
2. Analogous structures - structures which are similar in different organisms because they evolved in a similar environment, rather than were inherited from a recent common ancestor. They usually serve the same or similar purposes. An example is the torpedo body shape of porpoises and sharks. It evolved in a water environment, but the animals have different ancestors.

The rules for development of special characteristics which differ significantly from general homology were listed by Karl Ernst von Baer (the Baer laws). In biology, two or more structures are said to be homologous if they are alike because of shared ancestry. ... A group of organisms is said to have common descent if they have a common ancestor. ... Look up CAT, cat, Cat in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Whales are the largest species of exclusively aquatic placental mammals, members of the order Cetacea, which also includes dolphins and porpoises. ... Two structures in biology are said to be analogous if they perform the same or similar function by a similar mechanism. ... Genera Neophocaena Phocoena - Harbor porpoises Phocoenoides - Dalls Porpoises The porpoises are small cetaceans of the family Phocoenidae; they are related to whales and dolphins. ... Orders Carcharhiniformes Heterodontiformes Hexanchiformes Lamniformes Orectolobiformes Pristiophoriformes Squaliformes Squatiniformes Sharks (superorder Selachimorpha) are fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton[1] and a streamlined body. ... Karl Ernst von Baer (February 17, 1792 - November 26, 1876) was a Baltic German biologist and a founding father of embryology. ...

History

Edward Tyson is regarded as the founder of comparative anatomy. He is credited with determining that marine mammals are, in fact, mammals. Also, he concluded that chimpanzees are more similar to humans than to monkeys because of their arms. Edward Tyson (1650–August 1, 1708) was born at Clevedon, in Somerset. ... Type Species Simia troglodytes Blumenbach, 1775 Species Pan troglodytes Pan paniscus Chimpanzee, often shortened to chimp, is the common name for the two extant species in the genus Pan. ... For other uses, see Monkey (disambiguation). ...

See also

• Cladistics
• Phylogenetics