Apomorphy facts for kids
An apomorphy is a special, new feature or characteristic that a group of animals has. It's something unique they developed or inherited from their ancestors. For example, all mammals can digest their mothers' milk. This ability is a unique feature shared by all mammals. The production of milk by mothers is also an apomorphy unique to mammals.
Apomorphies are like special clues that help scientists understand how different groups of animals are related.
Contents
How Apomorphies Help Us Classify Animals
When a unique apomorphy is found in every species of a group of animals, it helps us classify them. This is part of taxonomy, which is how we name and group living things. If a group of animals all share a unique apomorphy, it usually means they came from a common ancestor. When animals share many unique features, it becomes very clear they are closely related. Mammals, for instance, have a long list of special features that only they share.
Groups of animals, called clades, are identified by synapomorphies. These are apomorphies that a whole group has together, but other groups do not. The word "synapomorphy" comes from "syn-", meaning "together".
For example, having five digits (like our fingers and toes) is a synapomorphy for a group of animals called tetrapods. Tetrapods are the first vertebrates (animals with backbones) that developed these digits. Even animals like snakes, which don't have visible digits, are still considered tetrapods. This is because other features, like their amniotic eggs (eggs with a protective shell) and diapsid skulls, show they descended from ancestors that did have digits.
Related pages
Images for kids
-
This image shows how scientists use special terms to describe features that are passed down from ancestors.
See also
In Spanish: Sinapomorfia para niños
