Definition of synapomorphy in English:
noun (plural synapomorphies)Biology
1A characteristic present in an ancestral species and shared exclusively (in more or less modified form) by its evolutionary descendants.
- The only known synapomorphy of this group is the presence of a sesamoid bone in the heel region.
- But this is not very convincing, as it reveals only one valid synapomorphy.
- Those specimens include conclusive evidence of the strongest possible bird-theropod synapomorphy - completely modern feathers and the oldest, most birdlike dromaeosaurs.
1.1Possession by two or more organisms of a characteristic inherited exclusively from their common ancestor.
- The diagnosis of Glades through synapomorphy becomes the starting point for the investigation of functional, temporal, adaptive and biogeographic questions.
- It is through cladistic analysis that we are able to tell homoplasy from synapomorphy.
- Thus, when a SINE sequence is found at an orthologous locus in two or more lineages, it can be regarded as evidence for synapomorphy.
Definition of synapomorphy in:
- British & World English dictionary
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