A Probability Interpretation of the Concept of Homology
- 1 November 1947
- journal article
- research article
- Published by University of Chicago Press in The American Naturalist
- Vol. 81 (801) , 468-473
- https://doi.org/10.1086/281558
Abstract
Homology is held to be the condition of similarity between 2 characteristics in organisms which results from their having had a common origin in evolution. Evidence that a similarity is due to homology may be derived from structure, development, function, chemical composition, life cycle relations or behavior patterns. The cogency of such evidence depends on the probabilities that the similarity could have arisen independently. Where the evidence indicates many possibilities are available to organisms as with structural arrangements in general, similarity is strong evidence of homlo-gy. Where the possibilities are few as is often the case with functions, similarity points less clearly to origin from a common ancestor. In any case the conclusion that 2 characteristics are homologous is always an inference based on probabilities and cannot be asserted dogmatically as a fact. In weighing the evidence other characteristics of the organism must be considered since all bear on the likelihood of common ancestry.This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit:
- Concepts of Homology and AnalogyThe American Naturalist, 1944
- Homology and Analogy: A Century After the Definitions of "Homologue" and "Analogue" of Richard OwenThe Quarterly Review of Biology, 1943
- Accumulation of radio‐active iodine by the endostyle of larval lampreys and the problem of homology of the thyroidJournal of Experimental Zoology, 1942
- Homology, Analogy and PlasisThe Quarterly Review of Biology, 1928