EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -In evolutionary biology, analogous structures are defined as biological structures having similar or corresponding functions but not from the same evolutionary origin. In other words, species use these biological structures for the same purpose and yet these species are from unrelated evolutionary lines.

Detailed explanation-2: -Analogous structures are features of different species that are similar in function but not necessarily in structure and which do not derive from a common ancestral feature (compare to homologous structures) and which evolved in response to a similar environmental challenge.

Detailed explanation-3: -Homologous structures share a similar embryonic origin; analogous organs have a similar function. For example, the bones in the front flipper of a whale are homologous to the bones in the human arm. These structures are not analogous. The wings of a butterfly and the wings of a bird are analogous but not homologous.

Detailed explanation-4: -Examples of analogous organs are wings of birds and butterflies, flippers of Penguins and Dolphins, eyes of the octopus and of mammals, sweet potato and potato.

Detailed explanation-5: -analogy, in biology, similarity of function and superficial resemblance of structures that have different origins. For example, the wings of a fly, a moth, and a bird are analogous because they developed independently as adaptations to a common function-flying.