Answer to Question #179602 in Evolution for Arib Aftab

Question

How might you explain the existence of species that look so different from the others that it is obvious they do not share a very recent common ancestor?

Answer 1

In evolutionary biology,the tree of life also called phylogenetic tree is the key to understanding relationship both with closely related and distant species.Organisms that look very different can be quite closely related, while very similar organisms, might be very distantly related. Remember, “phylogenetic relationship” refers not to the similarities and differences among organisms, but to the relative times that they shared common ancestors in the past.

The information about relationships is not in where the species sit relative to one another at the tips of the branches; we don’t read trees across the top from left to right. Instead, we read trees downward from the tips, moving backward in time, or upward from the bottom, moving forward in time.