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Evidence of Evo
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| evolution | Change over time |
| species | Closely related organisms that can produce fertile offspring. |
| embryo | An early stage of development in an organism; similarities in embryos of different species suggest they share a common ancestor, |
| vestigial structure | A body part that is a reduced version of a structure that had a function in an ancestor but is no longer useful or has a much smaller function today (example: human tailbone). |
| homologous structure | Body parts in different species that have similar structures because they share a common ancestor, even if they have different functions (example: human arm, whale flipper, bat wing). |
| analogous structure | Body parts in different species that have similar functions but different structures and do not come from a common ancestor (example: bird wings and insect wings). |
| fossil | Preserved remains or traces of ancient organisms that show what past life was like and how organisms have changed over time. |