List of examples of convergent evolution

File:Beutelwolf fg01.jpg (left) and the grey wolf, Canis lupus, are similar, although the species are only very distantly related (different infraclasses). The skull shape of the red fox, Vulpes vulpes, is even closer to that of the thylacine.{{cite journal| journal=Australian Journal of Zoology|volume=34|issue=2|year=1986|pages=109–117|title=Comparison of Skull Shape in Marsupial and Placental Carnivores|author= L Werdelin|doi=10.1071/ZO9860109}}]]

File:Convergence in Marsupialia and Placentalia.jpg in Australia (left column) and Placentalia in Europe and America (right column) resulting from convergent evolution.Neil A. Campbell, Jane B. Reece: Biologie. Spektrum-Verlag, Heidelberg/ Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-8274-1352-4, page 842.]]

• Several groups of ungulates have independently reduced or lost side digits on their feet, often leaving one or two digits for walking. That name comes from their hooves, which have evolved from claws several times. For example, horses have one walking digit and domestic bovines two on each foot. Various other land vertebrates have also reduced or lost digits.[http://www.donaldprothero.com/files/47440214.pdf The phylogeny of the ungulates - Prothero]
• Similarly, laurasiathere perissodactyls and afrothere paenungulates have several features in common, to the point of there being no obvious distinction among basal taxa of both groups.{{cite journal|last1=Gheerbrant|first1=Emmanuel|last2=Filippo|first2=Andrea|last3=Schmitt|first3=Arnaud|year=2016|title=Convergence of Afrotherian and Laurasiatherian Ungulate-Like Mammals: First Morphological Evidence from the Paleocene of Morocco|journal=PLOS ONE|volume=11|issue=7|page=e0157556|bibcode=2016PLoSO..1157556G|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0157556|pmc=4934866|pmid=27384169|doi-access=free}}
• Many aquatic mammals or marine mammals independently came to have adaptations to live in water, such as similar-looking tail flukes in dugongs and whales. Unrelated herbivores and carnivores have adapted to marine and freshwater environments.{{Cite journal|last=Reidenberg|first=Joy S.|date=2007|title=Anatomical adaptations of aquatic mammals|journal=The Anatomical Record|language=en|volume=290|issue=6|pages=507–513|doi=10.1002/ar.20541|pmid=17516440 |s2cid=42133705 |issn=1932-8494|doi-access=free}}
• The flipper forelimbs of marine mammals (cetaceans, pinnipeds, and sirenians) are a classic example of convergent evolution. There is widespread convergence at the gene level.{{Cite journal|last1=Chikina|first1=Maria|last2=Robinson|first2=Joseph D.|last3=Clark|first3=Nathan L.|date=2016-09-01|title=Hundreds of Genes Experienced Convergent Shifts in Selective Pressure in Marine Mammals|url=|journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution|language=en|volume=33|issue=9|pages=2182–2192|doi=10.1093/molbev/msw112|issn=0737-4038|pmc=5854031|pmid=27329977}} Distinct substitutions in common genes created various aquatic adaptations, most of which also constitute parallel evolution because the substitutions in question are not unique to those animals.{{Cite journal|last1=Zhou|first1=Xuming|last2=Seim|first2=Inge|last3=Gladyshev|first3=Vadim N.|date=2015-11-09|title=Convergent evolution of marine mammals is associated with distinct substitutions in common genes|journal=Scientific Reports|language=en|volume=5|issue=1|pages=16550|doi=10.1038/srep16550|issn=2045-2322|pmc=4637874|pmid=26549748|bibcode=2015NatSR...516550Z }}
• The pronghorn of North America, while not a true antelope and only distantly related to them, closely resembles the true antelopes of the Old World, both behaviorally and morphologically. It also fills a similar ecological niche and is found in the same biomes.{{Cite web|url=https://owd.tcnj.edu/~hofmann/Pronghorn.htm|title=Antelope are any of several hoofed, ruminant mammals, belonging to the family Bovidae, order Artiodactyla|website=owd.tcnj.edu}}
• Members of the two clades Australosphenida and Theria evolved tribosphenic molars independently.{{cite journal | last1 = Luo | first1 = Zhe-Xi | last2 = Cifelli | first2 = Richard L. | last3 = Kielan-Jaworowska | first3 = Zofia | s2cid = 4342585 | year = 2001 | title = Dual origin of tribosphenic mammals | journal = Nature | volume = 409 | issue = 6816| pages = 53–57 | doi = 10.1038/35051023 | pmid = 11343108 | bibcode = 2001Natur.409...53L }}
• The marsupial thylacine (Tasmanian tiger or Tasmanian wolf) had many resemblances to placental canids.{{Cite web|url=https://kyletaitt.scienceblog.com/2013/02/07/the-curious-evolutionary-history-of-the-marsupial-wolf/|title=The Curious Evolutionary History of the 'Marsupial Wolf'|date=February 7, 2013|website=Kyle Taitt}}
• Several mammal groups have independently evolved prickly protrusions of the skin – echidnas (monotremes), the insectivorous hedgehogs, some tenrecs (a diverse group of shrew-like Malagasy mammals), Old World porcupines (rodents) and New World porcupines (another biological family of rodents). In this case, because the two groups of porcupines are closely related, they would be considered to be examples of parallel evolution; however, neither echidnas, nor hedgehogs, nor tenrecs are close relatives of the Rodentia. In fact, the last common ancestor of all of these groups lived in the age of the dinosaurs.An Introduction to Zoology, Page 102, by Joseph Springer, Dennis Holley, 2012 The eutriconodont Spinolestes that lived in the Early Cretaceous Period represents an even earlier example of a spiny mammal, unrelated to any modern mammal group.
• Catlike sabre-toothed predators evolved in three distinct lineages of mammals – carnivorans like the sabre-toothed cats, and nimravids ("false" sabre-tooths), the sparassodont family Thylacosmilidae ("marsupial" sabre-tooths), the gorgonopsids and the creodonts also developed long canine teeth, but with no other particular physical similarities.Convergent Evolution: Limited Forms Most Beautiful, page 158, by George R. McGhee, 2011
• A number of mammals have developed powerful fore claws and long, sticky tongues that allow them to open the homes of social insects (e.g., ants and termites) and consume them (myrmecophagy). These include the four species of anteater, more than a dozen armadillos, eight species of pangolin (plus fossil species), eight species of the monotreme (egg-laying mammals) echidna (plus fossil species), the Fruitafossor of the Late Jurassic, the marsupial numbat, the African aardvark, the aardwolf, and possibly also the sloth bear of South Asia, all unrelated.{{cite news |last1=Angier |first1=Natalie |title=When Nature Discovers The Same Design Over and Over |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/15/science/when-nature-discovers-the-same-design-over-and-over.html |work=The New York Times |date=15 December 1998 }}
• Marsupial koalas of Australia have evolved fingerprints, indistinguishable from those of non-related primates, such as humans.{{Cite web|url=https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/did-you-know/koalas-have-fingerprints-just-humans|title=Koalas have fingerprints just like humans | Office for Science and Society - McGill University}}
• The Australian honey possums acquired a long tongue for taking nectar from flowers, a structure similar to that of butterflies, some moths, and hummingbirds, and used to accomplish the same task.{{Cite web|url=https://reellifescience.com/2013/10/16/convergent-evolution-are-dolphins-and-bats-more-related-than-we-think-by-cariosa-switzer/|title=Convergent EVOLUTION: "Are Dolphins and Bats more related than we think?" by Cariosa Switzer|first=Enda|last=O'Connell|date=October 16, 2013}}
• Marsupial sugar glider and squirrel glider of Australia are like the placental flying squirrel. Both lineages have independently developed wing-like flaps (patagia) for leaping from trees, and big eyes for foraging at night.{{cite web|title=Analogy: Squirrels and Sugar Gliders|url=http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/analogy_02|work=Understanding Evolution|publisher=The University of California Museum of Paleontology|access-date=28 September 2012}}
• The North American kangaroo rat, Australian hopping mouse, and North African and Asian jerboa have developed convergent adaptations for hot desert environments; these include a small rounded body shape with large hind legs and long thin tails, a characteristic bipedal hop, and nocturnal, burrowing and seed-eating behaviours. These rodent groups fill similar niches in their respective ecosystems.{{Cite web|url=https://www.desertusa.com/animals.html|title=Desert Animals - DesertUSA|website=www.desertusa.com}}
• Opossums and their Australasian cousins have evolved an opposable thumb, a feature which is also commonly found in the non-related primates.{{Cite web |url=http://jacusers.johnabbott.qc.ca/~biology/NYA/labs/NYASKELETONLAB/NYASKELETONINDEX-1.htm |title=johnabbott.qc.ca, Comparative Anatomy of Vertebrate Skeleta |access-date=2014-08-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150226021939/http://jacusers.johnabbott.qc.ca/~biology/NYA/labs/NYASKELETONLAB/NYASKELETONINDEX-1.htm |archive-date=2015-02-26 |url-status=dead }}
• The marsupial moles have many resemblances to the placental talpid moles and golden moles.The Encyclopedia of Applied Animal Behaviour and Welfare, page 137, D. S. Mills and Jeremy N. Marchant-Forde{{cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2010/11/03/3056167.htm|title=Marsupial mole mystery solved|date=3 November 2010|last=Pincock|first=Stephen|publisher=ABC Science}}
• Marsupial mulgaras have many resemblances to placental mice.{{Cite web|url=http://marsupialsare-awesome.weebly.com/marsupials-in-oceania.html|title=Marsupials in Oceania|website=Marsupials}}
• Planigale has many resemblances to the deer mouse.{{Cite web |url=http://asm2011.research.pdx.edu/AbstractsASM2011.pdf |title=91st Annual Meeting, The American Society of Mammalogists, A Joint Meeting With The Australian Mammal Society Portland State University, 28 June 2011 |access-date=15 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819083956/http://asm2011.research.pdx.edu/AbstractsASM2011.pdf |archive-date=19 August 2014 |url-status=dead }}
• The marsupial Tasmanian devil has many resemblances to the placental hyena or a wolverine. Similar skull morphology, large canines and crushing carnassial molars.[http://www.devilsatcradle.com/content.php?id=devil-facts devilsatcradle.com, Tasmanian Devil - Sarcophilus harrisii Taxonomy]
• Marsupial kangaroos and wallabies have many resemblances to the springhares, the viscachas (rodents which are also related to chinchillas), the maras (a large rodent from the cavy family (Caviidae)), rabbits and hares (lagomorphs).Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, Volume 27, page 382, By Joel Asaph Allen
• The marsupial lion, Thylacoleo carnifex, had retractable claws, the same way the placental felines (cats) do today.{{Cite web|url=http://www.nationaldinosaurmuseum.com.au/Thylacoleo.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819085747/http://www.nationaldinosaurmuseum.com.au/Thylacoleo.htm|url-status=dead|title=nationaldinosaurmuseum.com.au Thylacoleo|archivedate=August 19, 2014}}
• Microbats, toothed whales and shrews developed sonar-like echolocation systems used for orientation, obstacle avoidance and for locating prey. Modern DNA phylogenies of bats have shown that the traditional suborder of echolocating bats (Microchiroptera) is not a true clade, and instead some echolocating bats are more related to non-echolocating Old World fruit bats than to other echolocating species. The implication is that echolocation in at least two lineages of bats, Megachiroptera and Microchiroptera has evolved independently or been lost in Old World fruit bats.Yoon, Carol Kaesuk. [https://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/14/nyregion/donald-r-griffin-88-dies-argued-animals-can-think.html " R. Griffin, 88, Dies; Argued Animals Can Think"], The New York Times, November 14, 2003. Accessed July 16, 2010.D. R. Griffin (1958). Listening in the dark. Yale Univ. Press, New York.
• Echolocation in bats and whales also both necessitate high frequency hearing. The protein prestin, which confers high hearing sensitivity in mammals, shows molecular convergence between the two main clades of echolocating bats, and also between bats and dolphins.{{cite journal |vauthors=Liu Y, Cotton JA, Shen B, Han X, Rossiter SJ, Zhang S | s2cid = 16117978 | title = Convergent sequence evolution between echolocating bats and dolphins. | journal = Current Biology | volume = 20 | issue = 2| pages = R53–54 | year = 2010 | pmid = 20129036| doi = 10.1016/j.cub.2009.11.058| doi-access = free }}{{cite journal | author = Liu, Y, Rossiter SJ, Han X, Cotton JA, Zhang S | title = Cetaceans on a molecular fast track to ultrasonic hearing | journal = Current Biology | volume = 20 | issue = 20| pages = 1834–1839 | year = 2010 | pmid = 20933423| doi = 10.1016/j.cub.2010.09.008| doi-access = free }} Other hearing genes also show convergence between echolocating taxa.{{cite journal |vauthors=Davies KT, Cotton JA, Kirwan J, Teeling EC, Rossiter SJ | title = Parallel signatures of sequence evolution among hearing genes in echolocating mammals: an emerging model of genetic convergence | journal = Heredity | volume = 108| issue = 5| pages = 480–489| year = 2011 | pmid = 22167055| doi = 10.1038/hdy.2011.119 | pmc=3330687}} A genome-wide study of convergence published in 2013 analysed 22 mammal genomes and revealed that tens of genes have undergone the same replacements in echolocating bats and cetaceans, with many of these genes encoding proteins that function in hearing and vision.{{cite journal | doi = 10.1038/nature12511 | pmid = 24005325 | last1 = Parker | first1 = J | last2 = Tsagkogeorga | first2 = G | last3 = Cotton | first3 = JA | last4 = Liu | first4 = Y | last5 = Provero | first5 = P | last6 = Stupka | first6 = E | last7= Rossiter | first7 = SJ | year = 2013 | title = Genome-wide signatures of convergent evolution in echolocating mammals | journal = Nature | volume = 502 | pages = 228–231 | issue=7470 | bibcode=2013Natur.502..228P| pmc = 3836225 }}
• Both the aye-aye lemur and the striped possum have an elongated finger used to get invertebrates from trees. There are no woodpeckers in Madagascar or Australia where the species evolved, so the supply of invertebrates in trees was large.{{Cite journal|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-zoology/article/abs/feeding-ecology-of-the-striped-possum-dactylopsila-trivirgata-marsupialia-petauridae-in-far-north-queensland-australia/17C026A6770585A9040479B9C999C1B2|title=The feeding ecology of the striped possum Dactylopsila trivirgata (Marsupialia: Petauridae) in far north Queensland, Australia|first1=D. R.|last1=Rawlins|first2=K. A.|last2=Handasyde|date=June 19, 2002|journal=Journal of Zoology|volume=257|issue=2|pages=195–206|via=Cambridge University Press|doi=10.1017/S0952836902000808|url-access=subscription}}
• Castorocauda, a Jurassic Period mammal and beavers both have webbed feet and a flattened tail, but are not related.{{cite journal | last1 = Ji | first1 = Q. | last2 = Luo | first2 = Z.-X. | last3 = Yuan | first3 = C.-X. | last4 = Tabrum | first4 = A. R. | s2cid = 46067702 | year = 2006 | title = A swimming mammaliaform from the Middle Jurassic and ecomorphological diversification of early mammals | journal = Science | volume = 311 | issue = 5764| pages = 1123–1127 | doi=10.1126/science.1123026 | pmid=16497926| bibcode = 2006Sci...311.1123J }}
• Prehensile tails evolved in a number of unrelated species marsupial opossums, their Australasian cousins, kinkajous, New World monkeys, tree-pangolins, tree-anteaters, porcupines, rats, skinks and chameleons, and the salamander Bolitoglossa.Organ, J. M. (2008). The Functional Anatomy of Prehensile and Nonprehensile Tails of the Platyrrhini (Primates) and Procyonidae (Carnivora). Johns Hopkins University. {{ISBN|9780549312260}}.
• Pig form, large-headed, pig-snouted and hoofs are independent in true pigs in Eurasia, peccaries in South America and the extinct entelodonts.{{cite web | title = Entelodont General Evidence | publisher = BBC Worldwide | year= 2002 | url = http://www.abc.net.au/beasts/evidence/prog3/page4.htm | access-date = 2007-11-21}}
• Tapirs and pigs look much alike, but tapirs are perissodactyls (odd-toed ungulates) and pigs are artiodactyls (even-toed ungulates).Dawkins, Richard (2005). The Ancestor's Tale. Boston: Mariner Books. p. 195. {{ISBN|978-0-618-61916-0}}.
• Filter feeding: baleen whales like the humpback and blue whale (mammals), the whale shark and the basking shark separately, the manta ray, the Mesozoic bony fish Leedsichthys, and the early Paleozoic anomalocaridid Aegirocassis have separately evolved ways of sifting plankton from marine waters.{{Cite web|url=https://www.whalefacts.org/whale-shark-facts/|title=Whale Shark Facts|date=March 6, 2012}}
• The monotreme platypus has what looks like a bird's beak (hence its scientific name Ornithorhynchus), but is a mammal.{{cite web|url=http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/archive/permalink/the_duckbilled_platypus|title= Duck-billed Platypus|publisher =Museum of hoaxes| access-date = 2010-07-21}} However, it is not structurally similar to a bird beak (or any "true" beak, for that matter), being fleshy instead of keratinous.
• Red blood cells in mammals lack a cell nucleus. In comparison, the red blood cells of other vertebrates have nuclei; the only known exceptions are salamanders of the genus Batrachoseps and fish of the genus Maurolicus.{{Cite web|title=Avian Circulatory System|url=http://people.eku.edu/ritchisong/birdcirculatory.html|website=people.eku.edu|access-date=2020-04-30}}
• Caniforms like skunks and raccoons in North and South America and feliforms such as mongoose and civets in Asia and Africa have both evolved to fill the niche of small to medium omnivore/insectivore on their side of the world. Some species of mongoose and civet can even spray their attacker with musk similar to the skunk and some civets have also independently evolved similar markings to the raccoon such as the African civet.The Behavior Guide to African Mammals: Including Hoofed Mammals, Carnivores, By Richard Estes
• River dolphins of the three species that live exclusively in freshwater, live in different rivers: Ganges and Brahmaputra Rivers of India, the Yangtze River of China, and the Amazon River. Mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequence analysis demonstrates the three are not related.Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, by William F. Perrin, Bernd Wursig, J. G.M. Thewissen
• Mangabeys comprise three different genera of Old World monkeys. The genera Lophocebus and Cercocebus resemble each other and were once thought to be closely related, so much so that all the species were in one genus. However, it is now known that Lophocebus is more closely related to baboons, while the Cercocebus is more closely related to the mandrill.{{cite news |last1=Nuwer |first1=Rachel |author-link=Rachel Nuwer |title=New monkey species found hiding in plain sight |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/new-species-monkeys-found-most-endangered |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210412034201/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/new-species-monkeys-found-most-endangered |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 12, 2021 |work=National Geographic |date=22 June 2020 }}
• Sperm whale and the microscopic copepods both use the same buoyancy control system.{{Cite web|url=http://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk/news/story.aspx?id=997|title=planetearth.nerc.ac.uk, Copepods and whales share weight belt tactic, 16 June 2011, by Tom Marshall}}
• The wombat is a marsupial that is often considered to be the marsupial equivalent of the North American groundhog.{{Cite web |title=Convergent Evolution |url=http://www.zo.utexas.edu/courses/thoc/convergence.html |access-date=2023-05-28 |website=www.zo.utexas.edu}}{{cite web |url=https://www-tc.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/01/4/pdf/l_014_02.pdf |title=Convergence: Marsupials and Placentals |author= |date=2001 |website=PBS |publisher=WGBH Educational Foundation |access-date=14 December 2022}}
• The fossa of Madagascar looks like a small cat. Fossa have semi-retractable claws. Fossa also has flexible ankles that allow it to climb up and down trees head-first, and also support jumping from tree to tree. Its classification has been controversial because its physical traits resemble those of cats, but is more closely related to the mongoose family, (Herpestidae) or most likely the family Malagasy carnivores family, (Eupleridae).{{Cite web|url=http://www.edgeofexistence.org/mammals/species_info.php?id=43|title=edgeofexistence.org Fossa}}{{Cite web|url=https://a-z-animals.com/animals/fossa/|title=Fossa}}
• The raccoon dog of Asia looks like the raccoon of North America (hence its scientific name Procyonoides) due to its black face mask, stocky build, bushy appearance, and ability to climb trees. Despite their similarities, it is actually classified as part of the dog family (Canidae).
• Gliders or passive flight has developed independently in flying squirrels, Australian marsupial, lizards, paradise tree snake, frogs, gliding ants and flying fish and the ancient volaticotherium that lived in the Jurassic Period looked like a flying squirrel, but is not an ancestor of squirrels.{{cite web | url = http://www.szgdocent.org/resource/ff/f-rain1a.htm | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060709003610/http://www.szgdocent.org/resource/ff/f-rain1a.htm | archive-date = 2006-07-09 |title=Life in the Rainforest |access-date=15 April 2006}}{{cite book |last1=Corlett |first1=Richard T. |title=Tropical rain forests : an ecological and biogeographical comparison|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|date=2011 |location=Chichester|isbn=978-1444332551|pages=197, 200|edition=2nd |author2=Primack, Richard B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R0j8NROHQi8C&q=south+american+gliding+frog&pg=PA197}}
• Amynodontidae a family of extinct rhinoceroses that are thought to have looked and behaved like squat, aquatic, hippopotamuses.{{cite book |author1=McKenna, M. C |author2=S. K. Bell | year = 1997 | title = Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level | publisher = Columbia University Press | isbn = 978-0-231-11012-9}}{{Cite web|url=http://research.amnh.org/paleontology/perissodactyl/concepts/glossary#amynodon|title=Glossary | Perissodactyl|website=research.amnh.org}}
• Trichromatic color vision, separate blue, green and red vision, is found only in a few mammals and came about independently in humans, Old World monkeys and the howler monkeys of the New World, and a few Australian marsupials.{{cite journal|last=Arrese |first=Catherine |author2=1 Nathan S. Hart |author3=Nicole Thomas |author4=Lyn D. Beazley |author5=Julia Shand |s2cid=14604695 |title=Trichromacy in Australian Marsupials |journal=Current Biology |date=16 April 2002 |volume=12 |pages=657–660 |access-date=7 April 2012 |url=http://www.uq.edu.au/~uqnhart/Arrese_marsupials.pdf |pmid=11967153 |doi=10.1016/S0960-9822(02)00772-8 |issue=8 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050220053449/http://www.uq.edu.au/~uqnhart/Arrese_marsupials.pdf |archive-date=February 20, 2005 |doi-access=free }}{{cite journal | last1 = Rowe | first1 = Michael H | year = 2002 | title = Trichromatic color vision in primates | url = http://physiologyonline.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/17/3/93 | journal = News in Physiological Sciences | volume = 17 | issue = 3| pages = 93–98 | doi = 10.1152/nips.01376.2001 | pmid = 12021378 | s2cid = 15241669 | url-access = subscription }}
• Ruminant forestomaches came about independently in: hoatzin bird and tree sloths of the Amazon, ruminant artiodactyls (deer, cattle), colobus monkeys of the Old World and some Macropodidae.{{cite web|title=Rumination: The process of foregut fermentation |url=http://www.ultimateungulate.com/cetartiodactyla/Rumination.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130719095546/http://www.ultimateungulate.com/cetartiodactyla/Rumination.html |archive-date=2013-07-19 }}{{Cite web|url=http://faculty.fortlewis.edu/LASHELL_B/Nutr2-Rumdigestion.pdf|title=Ruminant Digestive System}}
• Adept metabolic water, acquiring water by fat combustion in xerocole desert animal and others came about independently in: camel, kangaroo rat, migratory birds must rely exclusively on metabolic water production while making non-stop flights and more.{{Cite web|title=metabolic water {{!}} Encyclopedia.com|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/metabolic-water|website=www.encyclopedia.com|access-date=2020-04-30}}{{cite web |url=http://dissertations.ub.rug.nl/faculties/science/2005/s.b.engel/ |title=Racing the wind. Water economy and energy expenditure in avian endurance flight |access-date=2008-08-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080629062143/http://dissertations.ub.rug.nl/faculties/science/2005/s.b.engel/ |archive-date=2008-06-29}}{{cite journal |author=Klaassen M |title=Metabolic constraints on long-distance migration in birds |journal=J Exp Biol |volume=199 |issue=Pt 1 |pages=57–64 |year=1996 |doi=10.1242/jeb.199.1.57 |pmid=9317335 |url=http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=9317335|url-access=subscription }}Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources (BANR), Nutrient Requirements of Nonhuman Primates: Second Revised Edition (2003), p. 144. [http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=9826&page=154]
• Glyptodontidae, a family of extinct mammals related to armadillos, had a shell much like a tortoise or turtle. Pangolins have convergently evolved the same features.
• Megaladapis, a genus of extinct lemur, bears a great resemblance to an indri or a koala (hence its nickname "koala-lemur") due to their stocky bear-like build, short stumpy tail, and presumed tufted ears.
• Palaeopropithecidae, a family of extinct lemurs, which are most likely related to the family Indriidae due to their morphology, have many similarities to sloths due to their appearance and behaviour, such as long arms, hooked fingers, and slow moving, giving them the nickname "sloth-lemurs".
• Archaeolemuridae, another family of extinct lemurs, which are also most likely related to the family Indriidae, have many similarities to baboons and other monkeys due to their body plans, which are both adopted to arboreal and terrestrial lifestyle, giving them the nickname "monkey-lemurs" or "baboon-lemurs".
• South American foxes look like true foxes, despite being a unique canid genus more closely related to wolves and jackals.[https://paleobiodb.org/classic/displayCollResults?collection_no=199157 Vorohuen (sic; Vorohué) Formation] at Fossilworks.org
• Whales exhibit hyperphalangy—an increase in the number of phalanges beyond three phalanges-per-digit. Whales share this characteristic with extinct marine reptiles, but not present-day marine mammals.{{Cite journal|last1=Cooper|first1=Lisa Noelle|last2=Berta|first2=Annalisa|last3=Dawson|first3=Susan D.|last4=Reidenberg|first4=Joy S.|date=2007|title=Evolution of hyperphalangy and digit reduction in the cetacean manus|journal=Anatomical Record|volume=290|issue=6|pages=654–672|doi=10.1002/ar.20532|issn=1932-8486|pmid=17516431|doi-access=free|s2cid=14586607}}
• A very derived form of hyperphalangy, with six or more phalanges per digit, evolved convergently in rorqual whales and oceanic dolphins, and was likely associated with another wave of signaling within the interdigital tissues.{{Cite journal|last1=Cooper|first1=Lisa|last2=Sears|first2=Karen|last3=Armfield|first3=Brooke|last4=Kala|first4=Bhavneet|last5=Hubler|first5=Merla|last6=Thewissen|first6=J G M|date=2017-10-01|title=Review and experimental evaluation of the embryonic development and evolutionary history of flipper development and hyperphalangy in dolphins (Cetacea: Mammalia)|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320639177|journal=Genesis|volume=56|issue=1|pages=e23076|doi=10.1002/dvg.23076|pmid=29068152|doi-access=free}}
• Palorchestes, a genus of the extinct marsupial family Palorchestidae, which are closely related to wombats and koalas in the suborder Vombatiformes, was nicknamed the "marsupial tapir" due to the shape of the animal's nasal bones, which was presumed that they possessed a short proboscis,{{cite web |last1=Musser |first1=A. |title=Palorchestes azeal [sic] |url=https://australianmuseum.net.au/learn/animals/mammals/palorchestes-azeal/ |website=The Australian Museum |language=en |date=November 2018}} like those of placental tapirs today.
• Mongooses bear a striking resemblance to many mustelids, but belong to a distinctly different suborder—the Feliformia (all those carnivores sharing more recent origins with the cats) and not the Caniformia (those sharing more recent origins with the dogs). Because mongooses and mustelids occupy similar ecological niches, they had led to similarity in form and behavior.{{Cite journal |last1=Mills |first1=David R. |last2=Do Linh San |first2=Emmanuel |last3=Robinson |first3=Hugh |last4=Isoke |first4=Sam |last5=Slotow |first5=Rob |last6=Hunter |first6=Luke |date=September 2019 |title=Competition and specialization in an African forest carnivore community |journal=Ecology and Evolution |language=en |volume=9 |issue=18 |pages=10092–10108 |doi=10.1002/ece3.5391 |issn=2045-7758 |pmc=6787825 |pmid=31624540}}
• Despite being from different families, both the giant panda (Ursidae) and the red panda (Ailuridae) are called "pandas" not only because of their fur pattern, but because they both have false thumbs and are adapted for a specialised bamboo diet despite having the digestive system of a carnivore (hence the order Carnivora).
• Multituberculates (named for the multiple tubercles on their "molars") are often called the "rodents of the Mesozoic", due to their appearances, traits and attributes.
• In general, marsupial cuscuses, brushtail possums, and their close relatives (Phalangeridae), are more terrestrial than other members of the suborder Phalangeriformes, and resemble terrestrial primates in some respects,Reilly SM, McElroy EJ, White TD, Biknevicius AR, Bennett MB, Abdominal muscle and epipubic bone function during locomotion in Australian possums: insights to basal mammalian conditions and Eutherian-like tendencies in Trichosurus, J Morphol. 2010 Apr;271(4):438-50. {{doi|10.1002/jmor.10808}}. especially lemurs of Madagascar, which are prosimians.{{Cite web|date=2014-08-21|title=Common spotted cuscus a marsupial furball|url=https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/blogs/creatura-blog/2014/08/common-spotted-cuscus/|access-date=2021-10-01|website=Australian Geographic|language=en-AU}}
• Both the placental superorder Euarchontoglires and diprotodont marsupials are documented to possess a vermiform appendix.{{Cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=H. F. |last2=Fisher |first2=R. E. |last3=Everett |first3=M. L. |last4=Thomas |first4=A. D. |last5=Randal-Bollinger |first5=R. |last6=Parker |first6=W. |doi=10.1111/j.1420-9101.2009.01809.x |title=Comparative anatomy and phylogenetic distribution of the mammalian cecal appendix |journal=Journal of Evolutionary Biology |volume=22 |issue=10 |pages=1984–1999 |date=October 2009 |pmid=19678866|doi-access=free }}
• Thoatherium had a single hoof similar to one of an horse and was even described to a "pseudo-horse".{{cite book|url=https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-3-642-32836-7.pdf|page=56|section=Evolutionsbiologie: Geschichte und Fundament|title=Evolutionsbiologie|lang=de|first1=Volker|last1=Storch|first2=Ulrich|last2=Welsch|first3=Michael|last3=Wink|isbn=978-3-642-32836-7|doi=10.1007/978-3-642-32836-7|year=2013}}{{cite book|url=https://macau.uni-kiel.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/dissertation_derivate_00000377//d377.pdf|page=235|section=Evolution und Diversität|title=Evolution und Lücke: Potentiale der historischen Geo- und Biowissenschaften für die Umweltbildung|lang=de|first1=Gerald|last1=Kopp}}

• Pterosaurian pycnofibrils strongly resemble mammalian hair, but are thought to have evolved independently.Witton, Mark (2013). Pterosaurs: Natural History, Evolution, Anatomy. Princeton University Press. p. 51.
• Ornithischian (bird-hipped) dinosaurs had a pelvis shape similar to that of birds, or avian dinosaurs, which evolved from saurischian (lizard-hipped) dinosaurs.{{cite journal | last1 = Sereno | first1 = P.C. | year = 1986 | title = Phylogeny of the bird-hipped dinosaurs (order Ornithischia) | journal = National Geographic Research | volume = 2 | issue = 2| pages = 234–256 }}
• The Heterodontosauridae evolved a tibiotarsus which is also found in modern birds. These groups are not closely related.Proctor, Nobel S. Manual of Ornithology: Avian Structure and Function. Yale University Press. (1993) {{ISBN|0-300-05746-6}}
• Ankylosaurs and glyptodont mammals both had spiked tails.David Lambert and the Diagram Group. The Field Guide to Prehistoric Life. New York: Facts on File Publications, 1985. pp. 196. {{ISBN|0-8160-1125-7}}
• The sauropods and giraffes independently evolved long necks.{{Cite web|url = http://www.zmescience.com/research/did-sauropods-walk-with-their-necks-upright/|title = Did sauropods walk with their necks upright?|publisher = ZME Science|first = Mara|last = Bujor|date = 2009-05-29}}
• The horned snouts of ceratopsian dinosaurs like Triceratops have also evolved several times in Cenozoic mammals: rhinos, brontotheres, Arsinoitherium, and Uintatherium.Holtz, Thomas R. Jr. (2011) Dinosaurs: The Most Complete, Up-to-Date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers of All Ages, [http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/dinoappendix/HoltzappendixWinter2010.pdf Winter 2010 Appendix.]
• Rhynchosaur teeth resemble that of the extant rodents.
• Billed snouts on the duck-billed dinosaurs hadrosaurs are strikingly convergent with ducks and the duck-billed platypus.{{Cite news|last=Boyle |first=Alan |author-link=Alan Boyle |work=MSNBC |title=How dinosaurs chewed |date=2009-06-29 |url=http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/06/29/1981788.aspx |access-date=2009-06-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090702125027/http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/06/29/1981788.aspx |archive-date=2009-07-02}}
• Ichthyosaurs (such as Ophthalmosaurus){{cite journal |last=Fischer |first=V. |author2=A. Clement |author3=M. Guiomar |author4=P. Godefroit |year=2011 |title=The first definite record of a Valanginian ichthyosaur and its implications on the evolution of post-Liassic Ichthyosauria |url=https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/79923 |journal=Cretaceous Research |volume=32 |issue=2 |pages=155–163 |doi=10.1016/j.cretres.2010.11.005 |hdl=2268/79923|s2cid=45794618 }} are marine reptile of the Mesozoic era which looked strikingly like dolphins.{{cite web|last=Southampton|first=University of|title=Fossil Saved from Mule Track Revolutionizes Understanding of Ancient Dolphin-Like Marine Reptile|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130514213154.htm|work=Science Daily|access-date=15 May 2013}} Several groups of marine reptiles evolved hyperphalangy similar to modern whales.
• Toothless beaks are independently derived in ornithomimosaurian, alvarezsaurian, therizinosaurian, oviraptorosaurian and ceratopsian dinosaurs like Triceratops, certain pterosaurs, birds, turtles, and cephalopods like squid, cuttlefish, and octopus.{{cite journal | last1 = Marsh | first1 = O.C. | s2cid = 130812960 | year = 1890 | title = Additional characters of the Ceratopsidae, with notice of new Cretaceous dinosaurs | url = https://zenodo.org/record/2513377| journal = American Journal of Science | volume = 39 | issue = 233| pages = 418–429 | bibcode = 1890AmJS...39..418M | doi = 10.2475/ajs.s3-39.233.418 }}
• The "Pelycosauria" and the Ctenosauriscidae bore striking resemblance to each other because they both had a sail-like fin on their back. The pelycosaurs are synapsids (more closely related to mammals) while the ctenosauriscids are archosaurs (closely related to crocodilians, pterosaurs and dinosaurs). Also, the spinosaurids had sail-like fins on their backs, when they were not closely related to either.{{cite journal | last1 = Botha-Brink | first1 = J. | last2 = Modesto | first2 = S.P. | year = 2007 | title = A mixed-age classed 'pelycosaur' aggregation from South Africa: earliest evidence of parental care in amniotes? | journal = Proceedings of the Royal Society B | volume = 274 | issue = 1627| pages = 2829–2834 | doi = 10.1098/rspb.2007.0803 | pmid=17848370 | pmc=2288685}}{{cite journal | last1 = Carroll | first1 = R.L. | year = 1969 | title = Problems of the origin of reptiles | journal = Biological Reviews | volume = 44 | issue = 3| pages = 393–432 | doi=10.1111/j.1469-185x.1969.tb01218.x| s2cid = 84302993 }}
• Also, Acrocanthosaurus and Ouranosaurus, which are not closely related to either pelycosaurs, ctenosauriscids or spinosaurids, also had similar, but thicker, spines on their vertebrae.
• Noasaurus, Baryonyx, and Megaraptor, all unrelated, all had an enlarged hand claw that were originally thought to be placed on the foot, as in dromaeosaurs. A similarly modified claw (or in this case, finger) is on the hand of Iguanodon.{{cite journal | last1 = Agnolin | first1 = F.L. | last2 = Chiarelli | first2 = P. | s2cid = 84491924 | year = 2010 | title = The position of the claws in Noasauridae (Dinosauria: Abelisauroidea) and its implications for abelisauroid manus evolution | journal = Paläontologische Zeitschrift | volume = 84| issue = 2| pages = 293–300| doi = 10.1007/s12542-009-0044-2 }}
• The ornithopods had feet and beaks that resembled that of birds, but are only distantly related.{{cite journal | last1 = Zheng | first1 = Xiao-Ting | last2 = You | first2 = Hai-Lu | last3 = Xu | first3 = Xing | last4 = Dong | first4 = Zhi-Ming | s2cid = 4423110 | year = 2009 | title = An Early Cretaceous heterodontosaurid dinosaur with filamentous integumentary structures | journal = Nature | volume = 458| issue = 7236| pages = 333–336|doi=10.1038/nature07856 | pmid=19295609| bibcode = 2009Natur.458..333Z}}
• Three groups of dinosaurs, the Tyrannosauridae, Ornithomimosauria, and the Troodontidae, all evolved an arctometatarsus, independently.The Dinosauria: Second Edition, Page 193, David B. Weishampel, Peter Dodson, Halszka Osmólska, 2004
• Some placodonts (like Cyamodus, Psephoderma, Henodus and especially Placochelys) bear striking resemblance to sea turtles (and turtles in general) in terms of size, shell, beak, mostly toothless jaws, paddle-shaped limbs and possibly other adaptations for aquatic lifestyle.Dixon, Dougal. "The Complete Book of Dinosaurs." Hermes House, 2006.
• Herbivorous dinosaurs exhibited convergent evolution towards one of two feeding strategies, one strategy resembling mammalian herbivores (emphasizing chewing-specialized morphology, with the skull acquiring and processing food) and another strategy analogous to herbivory in birds and reptiles (emphasizing a specialized gut as in the avian gizzard, with the skull used only for acquiring rather than processing food).{{Cite journal|last1=Benson|first1=Roger B. J.|last2=Barrett|first2=Paul M.|date=2020-01-06|title=Evolution: The Two Faces of Plant-Eating Dinosaurs|journal=Current Biology|language=en|volume=30|issue=1|pages=R14–R16|doi=10.1016/j.cub.2019.11.035|pmid=31910368 |s2cid=209899288 |issn=0960-9822|doi-access=free}}

File:Henodus chelyops - Naturmuseum Senckenberg - DSC02191.JPG|Henodus chelyops (Late Triassic), a placodont

File:Proganochelys Quenstedti.jpg|Proganochelys quenstedti (Late Triassic), a turtle

• The thorny devil (Moloch horridus) is similar in diet and activity patterns to the Texas horned lizard (Phrynosoma cornutum), although the two are not particularly closely related.{{Cite web|url=http://www.zo.utexas.edu/faculty/pianka/moloch.html|title=Moloch|website=www.zo.utexas.edu}}
• Amphisbaenian skulls closely resemble those of caecilians and mammals.
• Modern crocodilians resemble prehistoric phytosaurs, champsosaurs, certain labyrinthodont amphibians, and perhaps even the early whale Ambulocetus. The resemblance between the crocodilians and phytosaurs in particular is quite striking; even to the point of having evolved the graduation between narrow- and broad-snouted forms, due to differences in diet between particular species in both groups.{{Cite web|url=https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/taxa/verts/archosaurs/phytosauria.php|title=Phytosauria: The phytosaurs|website=ucmp.berkeley.edu}}
• Death adders strongly resemble true vipers, but are elapids.{{cite journal | last1 = Hoser | first1 = R. | author-link = Raymond Hoser | year = 1998 | title = Death adders (genus Acanthophis): an overview, including descriptions of five new species and one subspecies | url = http://www.smuggled.com/addtax2.htm | journal = Monitor | volume = 9 | issue = 2| pages = 20–30, 33–41 }}
• Legless lizards evolved multiple times independently, including snakes, which are also legless lepidosaurs nested among legged lizards. Major examples of unrelated legless lizards include glass lizards (family Anguidae, related to legged alligator lizards){{Cite web|url=https://snakesarelong.blogspot.com/2012/04/lizards-of-glass.html|title=Life is short, but snakes are long: Lizards of glass|first=Andrew|last=Durso|date=April 5, 2012}} and flap-footed lizards (family Pygopodidae, related to geckos), which each may be mistaken for snakes.{{cite journal |vauthors=Gamble T, Greenbaum E, Jackman TR, Russell AP, Bauer AM |title=Repeated origin and loss of adhesive toepads in geckos |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=7 |issue=6 |pages=e39429 |year=2012 |pmid=22761794 |pmc=3384654 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0039429|bibcode=2012PLoSO...739429G |doi-access=free }}
• Large tegu lizards of South America have converged in form and ecology with monitor lizards, which are not present in the Americas.{{cite journal | last1 = Sheffield | first1 = K. Megan | last2 = Butcher | first2 = Michael T. | last3 = Shugart | first3 = S. Katharine | last4 = Gander | first4 = Jennifer C. | last5 = Blob | first5 = Richard W. | year = 2011 | title = Locomotor loading mechanics in the hindlimbs of tegu lizards (Tupinambis merianae): Comparative and evolutionary implications | journal = The Journal of Experimental Biology | volume = 214 | issue = 15| pages = 2616–2630 | doi=10.1242/jeb.048801 | pmid=21753056| doi-access = free }}
• Anole lizards, with populations on isolated islands, are one of the best examples of both adaptive radiation and convergent evolution. Anoles on a given island evolve into multiple body types and ecological preferences, and the same set of body types appears in unrelated species across distant islands.{{cite journal |first1=Jonathan B. |last1=Losos |year=2007 |title=Detective Work in the West Indies: Integrating Historical and Experimental Approaches to Study Island Lizard Evolution |journal= BioScience |volume=57 |issue=7 |pages=585–97 |doi=10.1641/B570712|doi-access=free }}
• The Asian sea snake Hydrophis schistosus (beaked sea snake) looks just like the Australian sea snake Hydrophis zweifeli, but in fact is not related.{{Cite web|url=https://www.foxnews.com/science/deadliest-sea-snake-splits-in-two|title=Deadliest sea snake splits in two|date=March 26, 2015|website=Fox News}}
• The emerald tree boa and the green tree python are from two different families (boas and pythons), yet are very similar in appearance and ecology.{{Cite web|url=http://theroamingnaturalist.com/2010/08/07/evolution-awesomeness-series-3-convergent-evolution/|title=Evolution Awesomeness Series #3: Convergent Evolution|website=theroamingnaturalist.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160406065358/http://theroamingnaturalist.com/2010/08/07/evolution-awesomeness-series-3-convergent-evolution/|archive-date=6 April 2016}}

• Cretaceous Hesperornithes were much like modern diving ducks, loons and grebes. Hesperornithes had the same lobed feet like grebes, with the hind legs very far back, that most likely they could not walk on land.Holtz, Thomas R. Jr. (2012) Dinosaurs: The Most Complete, Up-to-Date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers of All Ages, [http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/dinoappendix/HoltzappendixWinter2011.pdf Winter 2011 Appendix.]{{cite journal |author1=Larry D. Martin |author2=Evgeny N. Kurochkin |author3=Tim T. Tokaryk |year=2012 |title=A new evolutionary lineage of diving birds from the Late Cretaceous of North America and Asia |journal=Palaeoworld |volume=21|doi=10.1016/j.palwor.2012.02.005 |pages=59–63}}
• The little auk of the north Atlantic (Charadriiformes) and the diving-petrels of the southern oceans (Procellariiformes) are remarkably similar in appearance and habits.Christidis, Les; Boles, Walter (2008). Systematics and taxonomy of Australian Birds. Collingwood, Vic: CSIRO Publishing. pp. 81–82. {{ISBN|978-0-643-06511-6}}
• The Eurasian magpie is a corvid while the Australian magpie is an artamid.Christidis L, Boles WE (2008). Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Canberra: CSIRO Publishing. p. 196. {{ISBN|978-0-643-06511-6}}
• Penguins in the Southern Hemisphere evolved similarly to flightless wing-propelled diving auks in the Northern Hemisphere: the Atlantic great auk and the Pacific mancallines.The Origin and Evolution of Birds, Page 185, by Alan Feduccia, 1999
• Vultures are a result of convergent evolution: both Old World vultures and New World vultures eat carrion, but Old World vultures are in the eagle and hawk family (Accipitridae) and use mainly eyesight for discovering food; the New World vultures are of obscure ancestry, and some use the sense of smell as well as sight in hunting. Birds of both families are very big, search for food by soaring, circle over sighted carrion, flock in trees, and have unfeathered heads and necks.Vulture, By Thom van Dooren, page 20, 2011

Image:Nubianvulture.jpeg|Nubian vulture, an Old World vulture

Image:Turkey_vulture_profile.jpg|Turkey vulture, a New World vulture

image:Convergent evolution 12.JPG|Hummingbird, a New World bird, with a sunbird, an Old World bird

• Hummingbirds resemble sunbirds. The former live in the Americas and belong to an order or superorder including the swifts, while the latter live in Africa and Asia and are a family in the order Passeriformes. Also the nectar-feeding Hawaiian honeycreepers resemble the two and differs from other honeycreeper.Prinzinger, R.; Schafer T. & Schuchmann K. L. (1992). "Energy metabolism, respiratory quotient and breathing parameters in two convergent small bird species : the fork-tailed sunbird Aethopyga christinae (Nectariniidae) and the Chilean hummingbird Sephanoides sephanoides (Trochilidae)". Journal of thermal biology 17.{{Cite web|url=https://naturedocumentaries.org/7672/hawaiian-honeycreepers-evolution-hawaii/|title=Hawaiian Honeycreepers: Evolution in Hawaii|date=December 5, 2014}}
• Flightlessness has evolved in many different birds independently. However, taking this to a greater extreme, the terror birds, Gastornithiformes and dromornithids (ironically all extinct) all evolved the similar body shape (flightlessness, long legs, long necks, big heads), yet none of them were closely related. They also share the trait of being giant, flightless birds with vestigial wings, long legs, and long necks with the ratites, although they are not related.{{cite journal |vauthors=Harshman J, Braun EL, Braun MJ, etal |title=Phylogenomic evidence for multiple losses of flight in ratite birds |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |volume=105 |issue=36 |pages=13462–7 |date=September 2008 |pmid=18765814 |pmc=2533212 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0803242105|bibcode=2008PNAS..10513462H |doi-access=free }}Holmes, Bob (2008-06-26). "Bird evolutionary tree given a shake by DNA study". New Scientist.
• Certain longclaws (Macronyx) and meadowlarks (Sturnella) have essentially the same striking plumage pattern. The former inhabit Africa and the latter the Americas, and they belong to different lineages of Passerida. While they are ecologically quite similar, no satisfying explanation exists for the convergent plumage; it is best explained by sheer chance.{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/science/grrlscientist/2011/dec/19/3|title=Mystery bird: Yellow-throated longclaw, Macronyx croceus | GrrlScientist|date=December 19, 2011|website=the Guardian}}
• Resemblances between swifts and swallows is due to convergent evolution. The chimney swift was originally identified as chimney swallow (Hirundo pelagica) by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, before being moved to the swift genus Chaetura by James Francis Stephens in 1825.{{cite journal|last=Cory|first=Charles B.|title=Catalogue of Birds of the Americas|journal=Fieldiana Zoology|date=March 1918|volume=13|series=197|issue=Part 2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T2RMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA137|access-date=28 September 2012|page=13}}
• Downy woodpecker and hairy woodpecker look almost the same, as do some 'Chrysocolaptes and Dinopium flamebacks, the smoky-brown woodpecker and some Veniliornis species, and other Veniliornis species and certain "Picoides" and Piculus. In neither case are the similar species particularly close relatives.{{Cite web|url=https://www.beautyofbirds.com/hairywoodpeckers.html|title=Hairy Woodpeckers | Beauty of Birds|website=www.beautyofbirds.com|date=16 September 2021 }}
• Many birds of Australia, like wrens and robins, look like Northern Hemisphere birds but are not related.Australian Birds by Donald Trounson, Molly Trounson, National Book Distributors and Publishers, 1996
• Oilbirds like microbats and toothed whales developed sonar-like echolocation systems used for locating prey.{{Cite web|url=http://www.unc.edu/~jdale/Comm141.htm|title=University of North Carolina, Animal Bioacoustics: Communication and echolocation among aquatic and terrestrial animals}}
• The brain structure, forebrain, of hummingbirds, songbirds, and parrots responsible for vocal learning (not by instinct) is very similar. These types of birds are not closely related.{{Cite web|url=http://jarvislab.net/Publications/Evo_Vocal_Brain_Structures.pdf|title=Evolution of brain structures for vocal learning in birds, by Erich D. JARVIS}}
• Seriemas and secretary birds very closely resemble the ancient dromaeosaurid and troodontid dinosaurs. Both have evolved a retractable sickle-shaped claw on the second toe of each foot, both have feathers, and both are very similar in their overall physical appearance and lifestyle.{{cite journal |vauthors=Birn-Jeffery AV, Miller CE, Naish D, Rayfield EJ, Hone DW |title=Pedal claw curvature in birds, lizards and mesozoic dinosaurs--complicated categories and compensating for mass-specific and phylogenetic control |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=7 |issue=12 |pages=e50555 |year=2012 |pmid=23227184 |pmc=3515613 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0050555|bibcode=2012PLoSO...750555B |doi-access=free }}
• Migrating birds like, Swainson's thrushes can have half the brain sleep with the other half awake. Dolphins, whales, Amazonian manatee and pinnipeds can do the same. Called unihemispheric slow-wave sleep.{{cite web |last1=Walter |first1= Timothy J. |last2=Marar |first2=Uma |title= Sleeping With One Eye Open |publisher=Capitol Sleep Medicine Newsletter |volume=2 |issue=6 |pages=3621–3628 |year=2007 |url=http://www.capitolsleep.com/Sleeping_with_One_Eye_Open_June07.pdf}}
• Brood parasitism, laying eggs in the nests of birds of other species, happens in types of birds that are not closely related.Payne, R. B. 1997. Avian brood parasitism. In D. H. Clayton and J. Moore (eds.), Host-parasite evolution: General principles and avian models, 338–369. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
• The charadriiform buttonquails closely resemble the galliform quails.
• Gallopheasants and junglefowl have similar tail-feathers but evolved them independently.

• Aquatic animals that swim by using an elongated fin along the dorsum, ventrum, or in pairs on their lateral margins (such as oarfish, knifefish, cephalopods) have all come to the same ratio of amplitude to wavelength of fin undulation to maximize speed, 20:1.{{cite journal |vauthors=Bale R, Neveln ID, Bhalla AP, MacIver MA, Patankar NA |title=Convergent evolution of mechanically optimal locomotion in aquatic invertebrates and vertebrates |journal=PLOS Biology |volume=13 |issue=4 | pages=e1002123 | date=April 2015 |pmid= 25919026 |doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.1002123 |pmc=4412495 |doi-access=free }}
• Mudskippers and exhibit a number of adaptations to semi-terrestrial lifestyle which are also usually attributed to Devonian tetrapodomorphs such as Tiktaalik: breathing surface air, having eyes positioned on top of the head, propping up and moving on land using strong fins.{{cite journal |vauthors=Daeschler EB, Shubin NH, Jenkins FA |title=A Devonian tetrapod-like fish and the evolution of the tetrapod body plan |journal=Nature |volume=440 |issue=7085 |pages=757–63 |date=April 2006 |pmid=16598249 |doi=10.1038/nature04639|bibcode=2006Natur.440..757D|doi-access=free }} Pacific leaping blennies also resemble mudskippers though they are not related.

File:Tiktaalik roseae life restor.jpg|Tiktaalik roseae - artistic interpretation. Neil Shubin, suggests the animal could prop up on its fins to venture onto land, though many palaeonthologists reject this idea as outdated

File:Boleophthalmus boddarti - Laem Phak Bia.jpg|Boleophthalmus boddarti - a mudskipper which is believed to share some features with extinct fishapods in terms of adaptations to terrestrial habitats

File:A group of mudskipper on land.jpg|A group of mudskippers coming ashore - they use pectoral fins to prop up and move on land. Some scientists believe Tiktaalik to have acted likewise

• Gobies are dorsal finned like the lumpsuckers, yet they are not related.
• The Rhenanids became extinct over 200 million years before the first stingrays evolved, yet they share quite a similar appearance.
• Sandlance fish and chameleons have independent eye movements and focusing by use of the cornea.{{Cite web|url=http://www.mapoflife.org/topics/topic_377_independent-eye-movement-in-fish-chameleons-and-frogmouths/|title=Map of Life | Independent eye movement in fish, chameleons and frogmouths}}
• Acanthurids and mbuna are both aggressive, brightly colored fish that feed principally on aufwuchs, although the former is found only in marine environments, while the latter is only found in freshwater Lake Malawi.
• Cichlids of South America and the "sunfish" of North America are strikingly similar in morphology, ecology and behavior.{{Cite web|url=http://www.oscarfish.com/article-home/fish/91-cichlids-and-sunfish-comparison.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100923184411/http://www.oscarfish.com/article-home/fish/91-cichlids-and-sunfish-comparison.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=September 23, 2010|title=.oscarfish.com, Cichlids and Sunfish: A Comparison, By Sandtiger}}
• The peacock bass and largemouth bass are excellent examples. The two fishes are not related, yet are very similar. Peacock bass are native of South America and is a Cichla. While largemouth bass are native to Southern USA states and is a sunfish.{{cite journal|last=Kullander|first=Sven|author2=Efrem Ferreira|title=A review of the South American cichlid genus Cichla, with descriptions of nine new species (Teleostei: Cichlidae)|journal=Ichthyological Explorations of Freshwaters|year=2006|volume=17|issue=4|url=http://www.pfeil-verlag.de/04biol/pdf/ief17_4_01.pdf}} others will surely be described (but see the results based on DNA data{{cite journal |vauthors=Willis SC, Macrander J, Farias IP, Ortí G |title=Simultaneous delimitation of species and quantification of interspecific hybridization in Amazonian peacock cichlids (genus cichla) using multi-locus data |journal=BMC Evolutionary Biology |volume=12 |issue= 1|pages=96 |year=2012 |pmid=22727018 |pmc=3563476 |doi=10.1186/1471-2148-12-96 |doi-access=free }}).
• The antifreeze protein of fish in the Arctic and Antarctic, came about independently.{{cite journal |vauthors=Crevel RW, Fedyk JK, Spurgeon MJ |title=Antifreeze proteins: characteristics, occurrence and human exposure |journal=Food and Chemical Toxicology |volume=40 |issue=7 |pages=899–903 |date=July 2002 |pmid=12065210 |doi=10.1016/S0278-6915(02)00042-X}} AFGPs evolved separately in notothenioids and northern cod. In notothenioids, the AFGP gene arose from an ancestral trypsinogen-like serine protease gene.{{cite journal |vauthors=Chen L, DeVries AL, Cheng CH |title=Evolution of antifreeze glycoprotein gene from a trypsinogen gene in Antarctic notothenioid fish |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |volume=94 |issue=8 |pages=3811–6 |date=April 1997 |pmid=9108060 |pmc=20523 |doi=10.1073/pnas.94.8.3811|bibcode=1997PNAS...94.3811C |doi-access=free }}
• Electric fish: electric organs and electrosensory systems evolved independently in South American Gymnotiformes and African Mormyridae.{{cite journal |author=Hopkins CD |s2cid=39794542 |title=Convergent designs for electrogenesis and electroreception |journal=Current Opinion in Neurobiology |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=769–77 |date=December 1995 |pmid=8805421 |doi=10.1016/0959-4388(95)80105-7}}
• Eel form are independent in the North American brook lamprey, neotropical eels, and the African spiny eel.{{cite journal | last1 = Hopkins | first1 = C. D. | s2cid = 39794542 | year = 1995 | title = Convergent designs for electrogenesis and electroreception | journal = Current Opinion in Neurobiology | volume = 5 | issue = 6| pages = 769–777 | doi=10.1016/0959-4388(95)80105-7 | pmid=8805421}}
• Stickleback fish have repeatedly moved between marine and freshwater environments, with widespread convergent evolution to adapt and readapt to these environments in different species.{{cite journal|title=The genomic basis of adaptive evolution in threespine sticklebacks. |date=2012-04-04 | volume=484|issue=7392 |doi=10.1038/nature10944|pmid=22481358 |journal=Nature|pages=55–61|pmc=3322419|last1=Jones |first1=Felicity C. |last2=Grabherr |first2=Manfred G. |last3=Chan |first3=Yingguang Frank |last4=Russell |first4=Pamela |last5=Mauceli |first5=Evan |last6=Johnson |first6=Jeremy |last7=Swofford |first7=Ross |last8=Pirun |first8=Mono |last9=Zody |first9=Michael C. |last10=White |first10=Simon |last11=Birney |first11=Ewan |last12=Searle |first12=Stephen |last13=Schmutz |first13=Jeremy |last14=Grimwood |first14=Jane |last15=Dickson |first15=Mark C. |last16=Myers |first16=Richard M. |last17=Miller |first17=Craig T. |last18=Summers |first18=Brian R. |last19=Knecht |first19=Anne K. |last20=Brady |first20=Shannon D. |last21=Zhang |first21=Haili |last22=Pollen |first22=Alex A. |last23=Howes |first23=Timothy |last24=Amemiya |first24=Chris |last25=Lander |first25=Eric S. |last26=Di Palma |first26=Federica |last27=Lindblad-Toh |first27=Kerstin |last28=Kingsley |first28=David M. |last29=Kingsley |first29=D. M. |bibcode=2012Natur.484...55. }}
• Flying fish can fly up to 400 m (1,300 ft) at speeds of more than 70 kilometres per hour (43 mph) at a maximum altitude of more than 6 m (20 ft), much like other flying birds, bats and other gliders.{{cite journal|last=Fish |first=F. E. |year=1990 |title=Wing design and scaling of flying fish with regard to flight performance |journal=Journal of Zoology |volume=221 |pages=391–403 |url=http://darwin.wcupa.edu/~biology/fish/pubs/pdf/1990JZWingdesign.pdf |doi=10.1111/j.1469-7998.1990.tb04009.x |issue=3 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020095503/http://darwin.wcupa.edu/~biology/fish/pubs/pdf/1990JZWingdesign.pdf |archive-date=2013-10-20 }}
• Extinct fish of the family Thoracopteridae, like Thoracopterus or Potanichthys, were similar to modern flying fish (gliding ability thanks to enlarged pair of pectoral fins and a deeply forked tail fin) which is not, however, considered to be their descendant.The Rise of Fishes: 500 Million Years of Evolution by John A. Long
• The cleaner wrasse Labroides dimidiatus of the Indian Ocean is a small, longitudinally-striped black and bright blue cleaner fish, just like the cleaner goby Elacatinus evelynae of the western Atlantic.{{cite journal |vauthors=Cheney KL, Grutter AS, Blomberg SP, Marshall NJ |s2cid=15354868 |title=Blue and yellow signal cleaning behavior in coral reef fishes |journal=Current Biology |volume=19 |issue=15 |pages=1283–7 |date=August 2009 |pmid=19592250 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2009.06.028|doi-access=free }}
• The fish of the now discredited genus Stylophthalmus are only distantly related, but their larvae (Stomiiformes and Myctophiformes) have developed similar, stalked eyes.{{Cite web|url=https://australian.museum/learn/animals/fishes/eyes-of-larval-black-dragonfish/|title=Why are the eyes of larval Black Dragonfish on stalks?|website=The Australian Museum}} (see: Stylophthalmine trait)
• Sawfish (a group of rays related to guitarfish), unrelated sawsharks (a group of sharks), and the extinct sawskates (another group of rays related to modern skates) all convergently evolved a saw-like rostrum with sharp transverse teeth for hunting.{{Cite web|url=http://www.realmonstrosities.com/2011/06/whats-difference-between-sawfish-and.html|title=What's the Difference Between a Sawfish and a Sawshark?|first=Joseph|last=JG}} This evolutionary process has been named "pristification".{{cite journal |last1=Greenfield |first1=T. |year=2024 |title=Pristification: Defining the convergent evolution of saws in sharks and rays (Chondrichthyes, Neoselachii) |journal=Mesozoic |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=121–124 |doi=10.11646/MESOZOIC.1.2.3|doi-access=free }}
• Underwater camouflage is found independently in many fish like: leafy seadragon (large part of its body is just for camouflage), pygmy seahorse, leaf scorpionfish, flounder, peacock flounder. Some have active camouflage that changes with need.{{cite web |title=Aquarium Fish: Physical Crypsis: Mimicry and Camouflage |author=Sewell, Aaron |date=March 2010 |url=http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2010/3/fish2 |access-date=28 April 2010}}
• Distraction eye, many fish have spot on the tail to fool potential predators and prey; both are not sure which is the front, the direction of travel.Aristotle. Historia Animalium. IX, 622a: 2-10. About 400 BC. Cited in Luciana Borrelli, Francesca Gherardi, Graziano Fiorito. A catalogue of body patterning in Cephalopoda. Firenze University Press, 2006. [http://www.fupress.com/scheda.asp?IDV=487 Abstract] [https://books.google.com/books?id=CW5RKQEL7-EC&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3 Google books]
• Gills appear in unrelated fish, some amphibians, some crustacean, aquatic insects and some mollusk, like freshwater snails, squid, octopus.{{Cite web|url=http://www.molluscs.at/gastropoda/index.html?/gastropoda/freshwater2.html|title=Snails and Slugs (Gastropoda)|website=www.molluscs.at}}

File:Cleaner station komodo.jpg| Cleaner wrasse Labroides dimidiatus servicing a Bigeye squirrelfish

File:Elacatinus evelynae.jpg| Caribbean cleaning goby Elacatinus evelynae

• Plethodontid salamanders and chameleons have evolved a harpoon-like tongue to catch insects.{{Cite web|url=http://www.mapoflife.org/topics/topic_51_tongues-of-chameleons-and-amphibians/|title=Map of Life | Tongues of chameleons and amphibians}}
• The Neotropical poison dart frog and the Mantella of Madagascar have independently developed similar mechanisms for obtaining alkaloids from a diet of mites and storing the toxic chemicals in skin glands. They have also independently evolved similar bright skin colors that warn predators of their toxicity (by the opposite of crypsis, namely aposematism).{{Cite web|url=https://news.mongabay.com/2005/08/study-discovers-why-poison-dart-frogs-are-toxic/|title=Study discovers why poison dart frogs are toxic|date=August 9, 2005|website=Mongabay Environmental News}}
• Caecilians are lissamphibians that secondarily lost their limbs, superficially resembling snakes and legless lizards.Nussbaum, Ronald A. (1998). Cogger, H.G. & Zweifel, R.G., ed. Encyclopedia of Reptiles and Amphibians. San Diego: Academic Press. pp. 52–59.
• Oldest known tetrapods (semi-aquatic Ichthyostegalia) resembled giant salamanders (body plan, lifestyle), though they are considered to be only distantly related.{{cite journal | last1 = Niedźwiedzki | s2cid = 4428903 | year = 2010 | title = Tetrapod trackways from the early Middle Devonian period of Poland | journal = Nature | volume = 463 | issue = 7277| pages = 43–48 | doi=10.1038/nature08623 | pmid=20054388| bibcode = 2010Natur.463...43N}}
• A number of amphibians such as lungless salamanders and the Bornean flat-headed frog separately evolved lunglessness.{{cite journal |last=Hutchison|first=Victor|year=2008|title=Amphibians: Lungs' Lift Lost|journal=Current Biology|volume=18|issue=9|pages=R392–R393|doi=10.1016/j.cub.2008.03.006|pmid=18460323|doi-access=free}}

File:Elginerperton.jpg|Elginerpeton pacheni, the oldest known tetrapod

File:Andrias japonicus model.jpg|Andrias japonicus, a giant salamander which resembles first tetrapods

• Many different amphibians are neotenic, evolved to retain larval traits (such as external gills) as part of an aquatic lifestyle. For example, Ambystoma mexicanum, an extant salamander, is difficult to tell apart from the Permian temnospondyl Branchiosaurus.{{cite book |first=Andrew R. |last=Milner |chapter=The Tetrapod Assemblage from Nýrany, Czechoslovakia |title=The Terrestrial Environment and the Origin of Land Vertebrates |editor1-first=A. L. |editor1-last=Panchen |year=1980 |pages=439–96 |publisher=Academic Press |location=London and New York}}

File:Branchiosaurus BW.jpg|Branchiosaurus, a Permian genus

File:Albinoaxolotl3.jpg|Mexican salamander (axolotl), extant

File:Armidillidium.vs.glomeris.jpg

• The smelling organs of the terrestrial coconut crab are similar to those of insects.{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/2013/12/absurd-creature-of-the-week-2/|title=Absurd Creature of the Week: Enormous Hermit Crab Tears Through Coconuts, Eats Kittens|first=Matt|last=Simon|magazine=Wired |via=www.wired.com}}
• In an odd cross-phyla example, an insect, the hummingbird hawk-moth (Macroglossum stellatarum), also feeds by hovering in front of flowers and drinking their nectar in the same way as hummingbirds and sunbirds.Herrera, Carlos M. (1992). "Activity pattern and thermal biology of a day-flying hawkmoth (Macroglossum stellatarum) under Mediterranean summer conditions". Ecological Entomology 17
• Pill bugs and pill millipedes have evolved not only identical defenses, but are even difficult tell apart at a glance.{{cite web |url=http://fieldmuseum.org/sites/default/files/millipede_apomorphies.pdf |title=Defining Features of Nominal Clades of Diplopoda |publisher=Field Museum of Natural History |access-date=June 24, 2007}} There is also a large ocean version: the giant isopod.{{Cite journal|first1 = Patricia | last1 = Briones-Fourzán | first2 = Enrique | last2 = Lozano-Alvarez |year=1991 |title=Aspects of the biology of the giant isopod Bathynomus giganteus A. Milne Edwards, 1879 (Flabellifera: Cirolanidae), off the Yucatan Peninsula |journal=Journal of Crustacean Biology |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=375–385 |jstor=1548464 |doi=10.2307/1548464|doi-access=free }}
• Silk: spiders, silk moths, larval caddis flies, and the weaver ant all produce silken threads.{{cite journal |vauthors=Sutherland TD, Young JH, Weisman S, Hayashi CY, Merritt DJ |title=Insect silk: one name, many materials |journal= Annual Review of Entomology |volume=55 |issue= 1|pages=171–88 |year=2010 |pmid=19728833 |doi=10.1146/annurev-ento-112408-085401 }}
• The praying mantis body type – raptorial forelimb, prehensile neck, and extraordinary snatching speed - has evolved not only in mantises but also independently in neuropteran insects Mantispidae.The Praying Mantids, Page 341, by Frederick R. Prete
• Gripping limb ends have evolved separately in scorpions and in some decapod crustaceans, like lobsters and crabs. These chelae or claws have a similar architecture: the next-to-last segment grows a projection that fits against the last segment.Insects, pt. 1-4. History of the zoophytes. By Oliver Goldsmith, page 39
• Agriculture: some kinds of ants, termites, and ambrosia beetles have for a long time cultivated and tend fungi for food. These insects sow, fertilize, and weed their crops. A damselfish also takes care of red algae carpets on its piece of reef; the damselfish actively weeds out invading species of algae by nipping out the newcomer.Fungal Biology, By J. W. Deacon, page 278
• Slave-making behavior has evolved several times independently in the ant subfamilies Myrmicinae and Formicinae,{{citation | last1 = King | first1 = JR | last2 = Trager | first2 = JC. | last3 = Pérez-Lachaud | first3 = G. | title = Natural history of the slave making ant, Polyergus lucidus, sensu lato in northern Florida and its three Formica pallidefulva group hosts. |journal=Journal of Insect Science| volume = 7 |issue=42| pages = 1–14| year = 2007 |url=http://insectscience.org/7.42 | doi=10.1673/031.007.4201| pmid = 20345317 | pmc = 2999504 }}{{citation | last1 = Goropashnaya | first1 = A. V. | last2 = Fedorov | first2 = V. B. | last3 = Seifert | first3 = B. | last4 = Pamilo | first4 = P. | editor1-last = Chaline | editor1-first = Nicolas | title = Phylogenetic Relationships of Palaearctic Formica Species (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) Based on Mitochondrial Cytochrome b Sequences | doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0041697 | journal = PLOS ONE | volume = 7 | issue = 7 | pages = 1–7 | year = 2012 | pmid = 22911845| pmc =3402446 |ref=CITEREFGoropashnaya et al.2012| bibcode = 2012PLoSO...741697G | doi-access = free }} and more than ten times in total in ants.{{citation|first1=Patrizia |last1=D'Ettorre|first2=Jürgen|last2=Heinze|s2cid=37840769|title=Sociobiology of slave-making ants|journal=Acta Ethologica|year= 2001|volume=3|issue=2|pages=67–82|doi=10.1007/s102110100038}}
• Proleg: a fleshy leg on many larvae of insects has independently evolved in several orders.{{Cite journal | last1 = Suzuki | first1 = Y. | last2 = Palopoli | first2 = M. | s2cid = 1163446 | doi = 10.1007/s00427-001-0182-3 | title = Evolution of insect abdominal appendages: Are prolegs homologous or convergent traits? | journal = Development Genes and Evolution | volume = 211 | issue = 10 | pages = 486–492 | year = 2001 | pmid = 11702198 }}
• Parasitoid use of viruses: parasitoid wasps lay their eggs inside host caterpillars; to keep the caterpillar's immune system from killing the egg, a virus is also "laid" with the eggs. Two unrelated wasps use this trick.{{cite book | pmid = 2678620 | volume=15 | title=Virally Infected Cells | journal= Subcell Biochem | pages=91–119 | last1 = Schmidt | first1 = O | last2 = Schuchmann-Feddersen | first2 = I | chapter=Role of Virus-like Particles in Parasitoid-Host Interaction of Insects | year=1989| doi=10.1007/978-1-4899-1675-4_4 | series= Subcellular Biochemistry | isbn=978-1-4899-1677-8 }}
• Short-lived breeders: species that are in the juvenile phase for most of their lives. The adult lives are so short most do not have working mouth parts. Unrelated species: cicada, mayflies, some flies, dragonfly, silk moths, and some other moths.{{Cite web|url=https://themysteriousworld.com/top-10-shortest-living-animals-in-the-world/|title=Top 10 Shortest Living Animals In The World|date=February 26, 2014}}{{Cite web|url=https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/walker/ufbir/chapters/chapter_37.shtml|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150730141612/http://entnemdept.ifas.ufl.edu/walker/ufbir/chapters/chapter_37.shtml|url-status=dead|title=Chapter 37: Shortest Reproductive Life | The University of Florida Book of Insect Records | Department of Entomology & Nematology|archivedate=July 30, 2015|website= UF/IFAS }}
• Katydids and frogs both make loud sounds with a sound-producing organs to attract females for mating.{{cite book|title=Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia|page=1|edition=6|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/katydid.aspx|access-date=10 December 2014 }}{{ Dubious | reason=Is this convergent enough? | date=April 2023 }}
• Camouflage of two kinds: twig-like camouflage independently in walking sticks and the larvae of some butterflies and moths; leaf camouflage is found independently in some praying mantises and winged moths.
• Dipteran flies and Strepsiptera insects independently came up with whirling drumsticks halteres that are used like gyroscopes in flight.{{cite journal|last1=Dickinson|first1=MH|title=Haltere-mediated equilibrium reflexes of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster |journal= Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences |date=29 May 1999|volume=354|issue=1385|pages=903–16|pmid=10382224|doi=10.1098/rstb.1999.0442|pmc=1692594 }}
• Carcinisation: a crustacean evolves into a crab-like form from a non-crab-like form. The term was introduced into evolutionary biology by L. A. Borradaile, who described it as "one of the many attempts of Nature to evolve a crab".{{cite journal |author1=Patsy A. McLaughlin |author2=Rafael Lemaitre |year=1997 |title=Carcinization in the anomura – fact or fiction? I. Evidence from adult morphology |journal=Contributions to Zoology |volume=67 |issue=2 |pages=79–123 |doi=10.1163/18759866-06702001 |doi-access=free }} [http://decapoda.nhm.org/pdfs/11727/11727.pdf PDF]

{{Annotated image | float=right | caption=In vertebrate eyes, the nerve fibers route before the retina, blocking some light and creating a blind spot where the fibers pass through the retina and out of the eye. In octopus eyes, the nerve fibers route behind the retina, and do not block light or disrupt the retina. In the example, 4 denotes the vertebrate blind spot, which is notably absent in the octopus eye. In both images, 1 denotes the retina and 2 the nerve fibers, including the optic nerve (3).| image=Evolution_eye_2.svg

| image_size= 640×363

| annotations =

{{Annotation|70|15|Vertebrate | font-weight=bold | font-style=spanish | font-size=13 }}

{{Annotation|230|15|Octopus | font-weight=bold | font-style=french | font-size=13 }}

}}

• Bivalves and the gastropods in the family Juliidae have very similar shells.{{Cite web|url=https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/01glance/wildlife/molluscs/html/molluscs.html|title=Maryland Molluscs|website=msa.maryland.gov}}
• There are limpet-like forms in several lines of gastropods: "true" limpets, pulmonate siphonariid limpets and several lineages of pulmonate freshwater limpets.[http://www2.hawaii.edu/~cbird/Opihi/frames.htm University of Hawaii] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060603083759/http://www2.hawaii.edu/~cbird/Opihi/frames.htm |date=2006-06-03 }} Educational page from Christopher F. Bird, Dep't of Botany. Photos and detailed information distinguishing the different varieties.{{Cite web|url=http://www.geochembio.com/biology/organisms/lottia/|title=Lottia gigantea (Owl Limpet), extreme mollusk: taxonomy, facts, life cycle, anatomy at GeoChemBio|website=www.geochembio.com}}
• Cephalopod (like in octopuses and squid) and vertebrate eyes are both lens-camera eyes with much overall similarity, yet are very unrelated species. A closer examination reveals some differences including embryonic development, extraocular muscles, number of lens parts, and the lack of a retinal blindspot in the cephalopod eye.{{cite journal | last1 =Yoshida | first1 =Masa-aki | last2 = Yura | first2 = Kei | last3 = Ogura | first3 = Atsushi | title = Cephalopod eye evolution was modulated by the acquisition of Pax-6 splicing variants | journal = Scientific Reports | volume =4 | pages =4256 | date = 5 March 2014 | doi =10.1038/srep04256 | bibcode=2014NatSR...4E4256Y | pmid=24594543 | pmc=3942700}}{{Cite journal

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| year = 1995

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| last3 = Gehring | first3 = W. J.

| title = New perspectives on eye evolution

| volume = 5

| issue = 5

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| journal = Current Opinion in Genetics & Development

}}

• Swim bladders: buoyant bladders independently evolved in fishes, the tuberculate pelagic octopus, and siphonophores such as the Portuguese man o' war."The illustration of the swim bladder in fishes is a good one, because it shows us clearly the highly important fact that an organ originally constructed for one purpose, namely, flotation, may be converted into one for a widely different purpose, namely, respiration. The swim bladder has, also, been worked in as an accessory to the auditory organs of certain fishes. All physiologists admit that the swimbladder is homologous, or "ideally similar" in position and structure with the lungs of the higher vertebrate animals: hence there is no reason to doubt that the swim bladder has actually been converted into lungs, or an organ used exclusively for respiration. According to this view it may be inferred that all vertebrate animals with true lungs are descended by ordinary generation from an ancient and unknown prototype, which was furnished with a floating apparatus or swim bladder." Darwin, Origin of Species.
• Bivalves and brachiopods independently evolved paired hinged shells for protection. However, the anatomy of their soft parts is very dissimilar, which is why molluscs and brachiopods are put into different phyla.[http://www.fossilplot.org/Bivalve_Brach_Exercise.pdf fossilplot.org, Brachiopods and Bivalves: paired shells, with different histories]
• Jet propulsion in squids and in scallops: these two groups of mollusks have very different ways of squeezing water through their bodies in order to power rapid movement through a fluid. (Dragonfly larvae in the aquatic stage also use an anal jet to propel them, and jellyfish have used jet propulsion for a very long time.) Sea hares (gastropod molluscs) employ a similar means of jet propulsion, but without the sophisticated neurological machinery of cephalopods they navigate somewhat more clumsily.{{Cite journal| first1 = P. J.| first2 = R. S. | title = Jet-propulsion in anisopteran dragonfly larvae| last1 = Mill | journal = Journal of Comparative Physiology| volume = 97| issue = 4 | pages = 329–338 | year = 1975 | doi = 10.1007/BF00631969| last2 = Pickard | s2cid = 45066664 }}{{Cite journal | last1 = Bone | first1 = Q. | last2 = Trueman | first2 = E. R. | doi = 10.1017/S0025315400057271 | title = Jet propulsion of the calycophoran siphonophores Chelophyes and Abylopsis | journal = Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom | volume = 62 | issue = 2 | pages = 263 | year = 2009 | s2cid = 84754313 }} Tunicates (such as salps),{{Cite journal | last1 = Bone | first1 = Q. | last2 = Trueman | first2 = E. R. | doi = 10.1111/j.1469-7998.1983.tb05071.x | title = Jet propulsion in salps (Tunicata: Thaliacea) | journal = Journal of Zoology | volume = 201 | issue = 4 | pages = 481–506 | year = 2009 }}{{Cite journal | last1 = Bone | first1 = Q. | last2 = Trueman | first2 = E. | doi = 10.1016/0022-0981(84)90059-5 | title = Jet propulsion in Doliolum (Tunicata: Thaliacea) | journal = Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology | volume = 76 | issue = 2 | pages = 105–118 | year = 1984 }} and some jellyfish{{cite journal

| url = http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/abstract/134/1/313

| title = Mechanics of Jet Propulsion in the Hydromedusan Jellyfish (section I. Mechanical Properties of the Locomotor Structure)

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| title = Mechanics of Jet Propulsion in the Hydromedusan Jellyfish (section II. Energetics of the Jet Cycle)

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|last2=Gosline |first2=John M.

|date=January 1, 1988

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}}{{cite journal

| url = http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/abstract/134/1/347

| title = Mechanics of Jet Propulsion in the Hydromedusan Jellyfish (section III. A Natural Resonating Bell; The Presence and Importance of a Resonant Phenomenon in the Locomotor Structure)

|last1=Demont |first1=M. Edwin

|last2=Gosline |first2=John M.

|date=January 1, 1988

|journal=J. Exp. Biol.

| volume = 134

|issue=134

|pages=347–361

| doi = 10.1242/jeb.134.1.347

|doi-access=free

}} also employ jet propulsion. The most efficient jet-propelled organisms are the salps, which use an order of magnitude less energy (per kilogram per metre) than squid.{{Cite journal | last1 = Madin | first1 = L. P. | title = Aspects of jet propulsion in salps | journal = Canadian Journal of Zoology | volume = 68 | issue = 4 | pages = 765–777 | year = 1990 | doi = 10.1139/z90-111 }}

• The free-swimming sea slug Phylliroe is notable for being a pelagic hunter that resembles a fish in body plan and locomotion, with functional convergences.{{cite web|last1=Helm|first1=R.R.|date=2015-11-18|title=Meet Phylliroe: the sea slug that looks and swims like a fish|url=http://www.deepseanews.com/2015/11/meet-the-sea-slug-that-looks-like-a-fish-lives-in-the-deep-sea-and-glows/|website=Deep Sea News}}

• The notochords in chordates are like the stomochords in hemichordates.{{Cite web |url=http://faculty.vassar.edu/jolong/files/LongKoob2006.pdf |title=faculty.vassar.edu, notochor |access-date=2014-08-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120306025012/http://faculty.vassar.edu/jolong/files/LongKoob2006.pdf |archive-date=2012-03-06 |url-status=dead }}
• Gastrotrichs, despite being in two different superphyla, resemble the kinorhynchids.
• Elvis taxon in the fossil record developed a similar morphology through convergent evolution.{{citation|last1= Benton|first1= Michael J. |author-link1= Michael Benton|year= 2009|title= Introduction to paleobiology and the fossil record| last2= Harper|first2= David A.T.|author-link2 = David Harper (palaeontologist)|publisher= John Wiley & Sons|isbn= 978-1-4051-8646-9|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=F_tYJ6wlYmYC&pg=PA77|page= 77}}
• Venomous sting: to inject poison with a hypodermic needle, a sharp pointed tube, has shown up independently 10+ times: jellyfish, spiders, scorpions, centipedes, various insects, cone shell, snakes, some catfish, stingrays, stonefish, the male duckbill platypus, Siphonophorae and stinging nettles plant.Smith WL, Wheeler WC (2006). "Venom evolution widespread in fishes: a phylogenetic road map for the bioprospecting of piscine venoms".
• Bioluminescence: symbiotic partnerships with light-emitting bacteria developed many times independently in deep-sea fish, jellyfish, fireflies, Rhagophthalmidae, Pyrophorus beetles, pyrosome, Mycena, Omphalotus nidiformis mushrooms, Vargula hilgendorfii, Quantula striata snail, googly-eyed glass squid, stiptic fungus, Noctiluca scintillans, Pyrocystis fusiformis, vargulin, sea pen, ostracod, Siphonophorae and glow worms. Bioluminescence is also produced by some animals directly.{{cite journal |author=Meighen EA |title=Autoinduction of light emission in different species of bioluminescent bacteria |journal=Luminescence |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=3–9 |year=1999 |pmid=10398554 |doi=10.1002/(SICI)1522-7243(199901/02)14:1<3::AID-BIO507>3.0.CO;2-4}}{{Cite web|url=https://wn.com/Bioluminescent|title=Bioluminescent|website=World News}}
• Parthenogenesis: Some lizards and insects have independent the capacity for females to produce live young from unfertilized eggs. Some species are entirely female.Liddell, Scott, Jones. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry%3Dge/nesis γένεσις] A.II, A Greek-English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1940. q.v..
• Several worm phyla have evolved an eversible proboscis, with examples being acanthocephalans, priapulids, kinorhynchs, and some polychaete worms.
• Extremely halophile archaeal family Halobacteriaceae and the extremely halophilic bacterium Salinibacter ruber both can live in high salt environment.{{cite journal |vauthors=Robinson JL, Pyzyna B, Atrasz RG, etal |title=Growth kinetics of extremely halophilic archaea (family halobacteriaceae) as revealed by arrhenius plots |journal=Journal of Bacteriology |volume=187 |issue=3 |pages=923–9 |date=February 2005 |pmid=15659670 |pmc=545725 |doi=10.1128/JB.187.3.923-929.2005}}
• Jellyfish-form hydrozoans have evolved many times, including the Portuguese man-o' war, and the crystal jelly.
• In the evolution of sexual reproduction and origin of the sex chromosome: mammals, females have two copies of the X chromosome (XX) and males have one copy of the X and one copy of the Y chromosome (XY). In birds it is the opposite, with males have two copies of the Z chromosome (ZZ) and females have one copy of the Z and one copy of the W chromosome (ZW).{{Cite web|url=http://bio.sunyorange.edu/updated2/GENETICS/9%20GENDER.htm|title=Untitled Document}}
• Multicellular organisms arose independently in brown algae (seaweed and kelp), plants, and animals.Strickberger's Evolution, By Brian Keith Hall, Page 188, Benedikt Hallgrimsson, Monroe W. Strickberger
• Origins of teeth have happened at least two times.{{Cite journal|url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1079623|title=sciencemag.org, Separate Evolutionary Origins of Teeth from Evidence in Fossil Jawed Vertebrates, by Moya Meredith Smith1 and Zerina Johanson, 21 February 2003|year=2003 |doi=10.1126/science.1079623 |pmid=12595693 |last1=Smith |first1=M. M. |last2=Johanson |first2=Z. |journal=Science |volume=299 |issue=5610 |pages=1235–1236 |s2cid=19816785 |url-access=subscription }}
• Winged flight is found in unrelated species: birds, bats (mammal), insects, pterosaur and Pterodactylus (reptiles). Flying fish do not fly, but are very good at gliding flight.{{Cite web |url=http://biology.unm.edu/ccouncil/Biology_203/Summaries/Vertebrate_Adaptations.html |title=Biology at the University of New Mexico, Vertebrate Adaptations |access-date=2014-08-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090214024218/http://biology.unm.edu/ccouncil/Biology_203/Summaries/Vertebrate_Adaptations.html |archive-date=2009-02-14 |url-status=dead }}
• Hummingbird, dragonfly and hummingbird hawk-moth can hover and fly backwards.[http://birdsbybent.com/ch11-20/hummingb.html birdsbybent.com, Ruby-throated HummingbirdArchilochus colubris ]
• Neuroglobins are found in vertebrate neurons, (deuterostomes), and are found in the neurons of unrelated protostomes, like photosynthesis acoel and jelly fish.[http://www.science.gov/topicpages/c/clytia+hemisphaerica+cnidaria.html science.gov, Neuroglobins, Pivotal Proteins Associated with Emerging Neural Systems and Precursors of Metazoan Globin Diversity] by Lechauve, Christophe; Jager, Muriel; Laguerre, Laurent; Kiger, Laurent; Correc, Gaelle; Leroux, Cedric; Vinogradov, Serge; Czjzek, Mirjam; Marden, Michael C.; Bail
• Siphonophorae and Praya dubia resemble and act like jellyfish, but are Hydrozoa, a colony of specialized minute individuals called zooids.Dunn, Casey (2005): [http://siphonophores.org/SiphOrganization.php Siphonophores]. Retrieved 2008-JUL-08.[http://fox.rwu.edu/jellies/images/propulsion/upstream/Colinetal2006.pdf fox.rwu.edu Marine Ecology Progress Series, Dec. 7, 2006 By Sean P. Colin, John H. Costello, Heather Kordula] Salp, a chordate, also is very much like jellyfish, yet completely different.{{Cite web|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110701121820.htm|title=Study sheds light on tunicate evolution|website=ScienceDaily}}
• Eusociality colonies in which only one female (queen) is reproductive and all other are divided into a castes system, all work together in a coordinate system. This system is used in many unrelated animals: ants, bees, and wasps, termites, naked mole-rat, Damaraland mole-rat, Synalpheus regalis shrimp, certain beetles, some gall thrips and some aphids.{{cite journal | doi=10.1038/359724a0 | author=Crespi B. J. | s2cid=4242926 | year=1992 | title=Eusociality in Australian gall thrips | journal=Nature | volume=359 | issue=6397 | pages=724–726 | bibcode=1992Natur.359..724C }}
• Oxygenate blood came about in unrelated animals groups: vertebrates use iron (hemoglobin) and crustaceans and many mollusks use copper (hemocyanin).{{Cite web|url=http://sciencecoop.weebly.com/the-difference-between-hemocyanin-and-hemoglobin.html|title=The Difference between Hemocyanin and Hemoglobin|website=Our Cell Metabolism and Mutation}}
• Biomineralization the secrete protective shells or carapaces made out of organically made hard materials like mineral carbonates and organic chitins came about in unrelated species all at the same time during the cambrian Explosion in: mollusks, brachiopods, arthropods, bryozoans, echinoderms, tube worms.{{cite journal|title=Terminology for biorelated polymers and applications (IUPAC Recommendations 2012)|journal=Pure and Applied Chemistry|year=2012|volume=84|issue=2|pages=377–410|doi=10.1351/PAC-REC-10-12-04|url=http://pac.iupac.org/publications/pac/pdf/2012/pdf/8402x0377.pdf | last1 = Vert | first1 = Michel|s2cid=98107080}}{{efn|Biomineralization is a process generally concomitant to biodegradation.}}
• Reef builders, a number of unrelated species of sea life build rocky like reefs: some types of bacteria make stromatolites, various sponges build skeletons of calcium carbonate, like: archaeocyath sponges, and stromatoporoid sponges, corals, some anthozoan cnidarians, bryozoans, calcareous algae and some bivalves (rudist bivalves).{{cite journal | last1 = Klappa | first1 = Colin F. | year = 1979 | title = Lichen Stromatolites: Criterion for Subaerial Exposure and a Mechanism for the Formation of Laminar Calcretes (Caliche) | journal = Journal of Sedimentary Petrology | volume = 49 | issue = 2| pages = 387–400 | doi = 10.1306/212F7752-2B24-11D7-8648000102C1865D }}Paleobotany: The Biology and Evolution of Fossil Plants, Edith L. Taylor, Thomas N. Taylor, Michael Krings, page [http://archives.datapages.com/data/sepm/journals/v47-50/data/049/049002/0387.htm?doi=10.1306%2F212F7752-2B24-11D7-8648000102C1865D]{{cite journal | last1 = Maloof | first1 = A.C. | s2cid = 128842533 | year = 2010 | title = Constraints on early Cambrian carbon cycling from the duration of the Nemakit-Daldynian–Tommotian boundary, Morocco | journal = Geology | volume = 38 | issue = 7| pages = 623–626 | doi = 10.1130/G30726.1 | bibcode = 2010Geo....38..623M }}
• Magnetite for orientation, magnetically charged particles of magnetite for directional sensing have been found in unrelated species of salmon, rainbow trout, some butterflies and birds.{{Cite web|url=http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/magsense/ms.html|title=The Magnetic Sense of Animals|website=www.ks.uiuc.edu}}
• Hydrothermal vent adaptations like the use of bacteria housed in body flesh or in special organs, to the point they no longer have mouth parts, have been found in unrelated hydrothermal vent species of mollusks and tube worms (like the giant tube worm).{{Cite web|url=http://www.seasky.org/deep-sea/giant-tube-worm.html|title=Giant Tube Worm - Deep Sea Creatures on Sea and Sky|website=www.seasky.org}}
• Lichens are partnerships of fungi and algae. Each "species" of lichen is make of different fungi and algae species, thus each has to come about independently.{{cite web|url=https://www.anbg.gov.au/lichen/what-is-lichen.html|title=What is a lichen?, Australian National Botanical Garden|access-date=10 October 2014}}Introduction to Lichens - An Alliance between Kingdoms, University of California Museum charity's Williams of Paleontology, [http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fungi/lichens/lichens.html]{{cite journal | last1 = Margulis | first1 = Lynn | author-link = Lynn Margulis | last2 = Barreno | first2 = Eva | year = 2003 | title = Looking at Lichens | journal = BioScience | volume = 53 | issue = 8| pages = 776–778 | doi=10.1641/0006-3568(2003)053[0776:LAL]2.0.CO;2| doi-access = free }}
• Parental care came about independently in: mammals, most birds, some insects, some fish and crocodilians.{{cite book|author=Susan Allport|title=A Natural History of Parenting: A Naturalist Looks at Parenting in the Animal World and Ours|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q95MhaJ7yRoC&pg=PA19|date=1 April 2003|publisher=iUniverse|isbn=978-0-595-27130-6|pages=19–20}}{{cite journal |last1=Wong |first1=Janine W. Y. |last2=Meunier |first2=Joel |last3=Molliker |first3=Mathias |title=The evolution of parental care in insects: the roles of ecology, life history and the social environment |journal=Ecological Entomology |date=2013 |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=123–137 |doi=10.1111/een.12000 |s2cid=82267208 |doi-access=free }}
• Regeneration, many different unrelated species can grow new limbs, tail or other body parts, if body parts are lost.{{cite journal | last1=Gabor | first1=M. H. | last2=Hotchkiss | first2=R. D. | title=Parameters governing bacterial regeneration and genetic recombination after fusion of Bacillus subtilis protoplasts | journal=Journal of Bacteriology | volume=137 | issue=3 | year=1979 | pages=1346–1353 | doi=10.1128/JB.137.3.1346-1353.1979 | pmid=108246 | pmc=218319}}{{cite web | last1 = Min | first1 = Su | last2 = Wang | first2 = Song W. | last3 = Orr | first3 = William | title = Graphic general pathology: 2.2 complete regeneration | work = Pathology | publisher = pathol.med.stu.edu.cn | year = 2006 | quote = (1) Complete regeneration: The new tissue is the same as the tissue that was lost. After the repair process has been completed, the structure and function of the injured tissue are completely normal | url = http://pathol.med.stu.edu.cn/pathol/listEngContent2.aspx?ContentID=492 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121207231322/http://pathol.med.stu.edu.cn/pathol/listEngContent2.aspx?ContentID=492 | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2012-12-07 | access-date = 2012-12-07 }}
• The statocyst is a balance sensory receptor independently found in different organisms like: some aquatic invertebrates, including bivalves,{{Cite journal | last1 = Morton | first1 = B. | doi = 10.1111/j.1469-7998.1985.tb05633.x | title = Statocyst structure in the Anomalodesmata (Bivalvia) | journal = Journal of Zoology | volume = 206 | pages = 23–34 | year = 2009 }} cnidarians,{{Cite journal

| last1 = Spangenberg | first1 = D. B.

| title = Statolith formation in Cnidaria: effects of cadmium on Aurelia statoliths

| journal = Scanning Electron Microscopy

| issue = 4

| pages = 1609–1618

| year = 1986

| pmid = 11539690

}} echinoderms,{{Cite journal | last1 = Ehlers | first1 = U. | doi = 10.1111/j.1463-6395.1997.tb01127.x | title = Ultrastructure of the statocysts in the apodous sea cucumber Leptosynapta inhaerens (Holothuroidea, Echinodermata) | journal = Acta Zoologica | volume = 78 | pages = 61–68 | year = 1997 }} cephalopods,{{Cite journal | last1 = Clarke | first1 = M. R. | title = The cephalopod statolithan—introduction to its form | doi = 10.1017/S0025315400041345 | journal = Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom | volume = 58 | issue = 3 | pages = 701–712| year = 2009 | s2cid = 86597620 }} and crustaceans.{{Cite journal | last1 = Cohen | first1 = M. J. | s2cid = 29494854 | title = The response patterns of single receptors in the crustacean statocyst | doi = 10.1098/rspb.1960.0020 | journal = Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences | volume = 152 | issue = 946 | pages = 30–49 | year = 1960 | pmid = 13849418| bibcode = 1960RSPSB.152...30C }} Also found in single-cell ciliate. A similar structure is also found in Xenoturbella.{{Cite journal | last1 = Israelsson | first1 = O. | title = Ultrastructural aspects of the 'statocyst' of Xenoturbella (Deuterostomia) cast doubt on its function as a georeceptor | doi = 10.1016/j.tice.2007.03.002 | journal = Tissue and Cell | volume = 39 | issue = 3 | pages = 171–177 | year = 2007 | pmid = 17434196}}

• Hearing came about in many different unrelated species with the: tympanal organ, Johnston's organ and mammal/bird ears. Also the simpler hearing found in reptiles, with only the stapes bone.
• Pincushion-form starfish have evolved at least four times.
• Infrared vision is in many different unrelated species: pit viper snakes (rattlesnakes), pythons, vampire bats, and wood-boring wasps and fire beetles.

• While most plant species are perennial, about 6% follow an annual life cycle, living for only one growing season.{{Cite journal |last=Poppenwimer |first=Tyler |last2=Mayrose |first2=Itay |last3=DeMalach |first3=Niv |date=December 2023 |title=Revising the global biogeography of annual and perennial plants |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06644-x |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=624 |issue=7990 |pages=109–114 |doi=10.1038/s41586-023-06644-x |issn=1476-4687|arxiv=2304.13101 }} The annual life cycle has evolved in over 120 plant families across the entire angiosperm phylogeny.{{Cite journal |last=Friedman |first=Jannice |date=2020-11-02 |title=The Evolution of Annual and Perennial Plant Life Histories: Ecological Correlates and Genetic Mechanisms |url=https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-110218-024638 |journal=Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics |language=en |volume=51 |issue=1 |pages=461–481 |doi=10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-110218-024638 |issn=1543-592X|url-access=subscription }} Notably, the prevalence of annual species increases under hot-dry summer conditions in different families including Asteraceae, Brassicaceae, Fabaceae, and Poaceae.
• Leaves have evolved multiple times - see Evolutionary history of plants. They have evolved not only in land plants, but also in various algae, like kelp.{{Cite web|url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-first-plant-evolved/|title=How the First Plant Came to Be|first=David|last=Biello|website=Scientific American}}
• Prickles, thorns and spines are all modified plant tissues that have evolved to prevent or limit herbivory, these structures have evolved independently a number of times.Simpson, M. G. 2010. "Plant Morphology". In: Plant Systematics, 2nd. edition. Elsevier Academic Press. Chapter 9.
• Stimulant toxins: plants which are only distantly related to each other, such as coffee, tea, kola and yerba mate produce caffeine to deter predators.{{Cite web|url=http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/780334|title=Which Plants Contain Caffeine?|website=Medscape}}
• The aerial rootlets found in ivy (Hedera) are similar to those of the climbing hydrangea (Hydrangea petiolaris) and some other vines. These rootlets are not derived from a common ancestor but have the same function of clinging to whatever support is available.{{cite web |title=Epiphytes - adaptations to an aerial habitat |url=http://www.kew.org/ksheets/epiphytes.html |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111229165422/http://www.kew.org/ksheets/epiphytes.html |archive-date=2011-12-29}}
• Flowering plants (Delphinium, Aerangis, Tropaeolum and others) from different regions form tube-like spurs that contain nectar. This is why insects from one place sometimes can feed on plants from another place that have a structure like the flower, which is the traditional source of food for the animal.Clarke, C.M. 1997. Nepenthes of Borneo. Natural History Publications (Borneo), Kota Kinabalu.
• Casuarinas are flowering plants with fruit and leaves resembling the leaves and cones of the gymnosperm pines
• Some dicots (Anemone) and monocots (Trillium) in inhospitable environments are able to form underground organs such as corms, bulbs and rhizomes for reserving of nutrition and water until the conditions become better.
• Carnivorous plants: nitrogen-deficient plants have in at least seven distinct times become carnivorous, like: flypaper traps such as sundews and butterworts, spring traps-Venus fly trap, and pitcher traps in order to capture and digest insects to obtain scarce nitrogen.{{Cite journal| author=Albert, V.A., Williams, S.E., and Chase, M.W. | title=Carnivorous plants: Phylogeny and structural evolution | journal=Science | volume=257 | year=1992 | pages=1491–1495 | doi=10.1126/science.1523408 | pmid=1523408 | issue=5076 | bibcode=1992Sci...257.1491A }}{{Cite journal|author1=Ellison, A.M. |author2=Gotelli, N.J. |name-list-style=amp|title=Energetics and the evolution of carnivorous plants—Darwin's 'most wonderful plants in the world'.|journal=Journal of Experimental Botany|volume=60|year=2009|pages=19–42|doi=10.1093/jxb/ern179|pmid=19213724|issue=1|url=https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/2265303/Ellison_Gotelli_JXB_final_with_figures.pdf?sequence=2|doi-access=free}}
• Pitcher plants: the pitcher trap evolved independently in three eudicot lineages and one monocot lineage.{{Cite journal | year = 1992 | last1 = Albert | first1 = V.A. | last2 = Williams | first2 = S.E. | last3 = Chase | first3 = M.W. | title = Carnivorous Plants: Phylogeny and Structural Evolution | journal = Science | volume = 257 | issue = 5076 | pages = 1491–1495 | pmid = 1523408 | doi=10.1126/science.1523408| bibcode = 1992Sci...257.1491A }}{{Cite journal | year = 1999 | last1 = Owen Jr | first1 = T.P. | last2 = Lennon | first2 = K.A. | title = Structure and Development of Pitchers from the Carnivorous Plant Nepenthes alta (Nepenthaceae) | journal = American Journal of Botany | volume = 86 | issue = 10 | pages = 1382–1390 | pmid = 10523280 | doi=10.2307/2656921| jstor = 2656921 }}
• Similar-looking rosette succulents have arisen separately among plants in the families Asphodelaceae (formerly Liliaceae) and Crassulaceae.{{Cite web|url=http://www.mapoflife.org/topics/topic_386_desert-plants-with-succulent-leaves/|title=Map of Life | Desert plants with succulent leaves}}
• The orchids, the birthwort family and Stylidiaceae have evolved independently the specific organ known as gynostemium, more popular as column.{{Cite web|url=http://www.science.gov/topicpages/o/orchid+functional+genomics.html|title=orchid functional genomics: Topics by Science.gov|website=www.science.gov}}
• The Euphorbia of deserts in Africa and southern Asia, and the Cactaceae of the New World deserts have similar modifications (see picture below for one of many possible examples).{{Cite web|url=http://www.mapoflife.org/topics/topic_387_desert-plants-with-succulent-stems/|title=Map of Life | Desert plants with succulent stems}}
• Sunflower: some types of sunflower and Pericallis are due to convergent evolution.{{Cite web |url=http://sites.bio.indiana.edu/~palmerlab/Journals/143.pdf |title=Indiana University, The Origin of Dendrosenecio |access-date=2014-08-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100706212012/http://sites.bio.indiana.edu/~palmerlab/Journals/143.pdf |archive-date=2010-07-06 |url-status=dead }}
• Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM), a carbon fixation pathway that evolved in multiple plants as an adaptation to arid conditions.{{Citation |last1=Keeley |first1=Jon E. |last2=Rundel |first2=Philip W. |year=2003 |title=Evolution of CAM and C4 Carbon-Concentrating Mechanisms |journal=International Journal of Plant Sciences |volume=164 |issue=S3 |page=S55 |url=http://www.werc.usgs.gov/OLDsitedata/seki/pdfs/ijps_keeley_rundel.pdf |access-date=2012-02-19 |doi=10.1086/374192 |s2cid=85186850 |name-list-style=amp }}
• C4 photosynthesis is estimated to have evolved over 60 times within plants,{{Cite journal | last1 = Sage | first1 = R. F. | last2 = Christin | first2 = P. -A. | last3 = Edwards | first3 = E. J. | doi = 10.1093/jxb/err048 | title = The C4 plant lineages of planet Earth | journal = Journal of Experimental Botany | volume = 62 | issue = 9 | pages = 3155–3169 | year = 2011 | pmid = 21414957| doi-access = free }} via multiple different sequences of evolutionary events.{{cite journal |vauthors=Williams BP, Johnston IG, Covshoff S, Hibberd JM | title = Phenotypic landscape inference reveals multiple evolutionary paths to C₄ photosynthesis | journal = eLife | volume = 2 | pages = e00961 |date=September 2013 | doi = 10.7554/eLife.00961 | pmid=24082995 | pmc=3786385 | doi-access = free }} C4 plants use a different metabolic pathway to capture carbon dioxide but also have differences in leaf anatomy and cell biology compared to most other plants.
• Trunk, a single woody stem came about in unrelated plants: paleozoic tree forms of club mosses, horsetails, and seed plants.
• The marine animals sea lily crinoid, looks like a terrestrial palm tree.{{Cite web|url=http://www.kli.ac.at/research/project-detail/643-1463522400/convergent-evolution-in-the-oceans,|title=Konrad Lorenz Institute, Convergent Evolution in the Oceans, George McGhee, 2016}}
• Palm trees form are in unrelated plants: cycads (from the Jurassic period) and older tree ferns.{{cite journal | last=Bessey | first=C.E. | year=1907 | title=A synopsis of plant phyla | journal=Nebraska Univ. Stud. | volume=7 | pages=275–373 }}
• Flower petals came about independently in a number of different plant lineages.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/08/science/08flower.html|title=Where Did All the Flowers Come From?|first=Carl|last=Zimmer|newspaper=The New York Times |date=September 7, 2009}}
• Bilateral flowers, with distinct up-down orientation, came about independently in a number of different plants like: violets, orchids and peas.[http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/369/1648/20130348, Royal Society Publishing, Trends in flower symmetry evolution revealed through phylogenetic and developmental genetic advances, by Lena C. Hileman]{{cite journal |last1=West |first1=E L |last2=Laverty |first2=T M |title=Effect of floral symmetry on flower choice and foraging behaviour of bumble bees |journal=Canadian Journal of Zoology |date=1 April 1998 |volume=76 |issue=4 |pages=730–739 |doi=10.1139/z97-246 }}
• United petals, petals that unite into a single bell shape came about independently in blueberries, Ericaceae and other plants.{{cite journal|doi=10.1111/nph.12969 | pmid=25539005 | volume=204 | issue=4 | title=The floral morphospace - a modern comparative approach to study angiosperm evolution | year=2014 | journal=New Phytologist | pages=841–853 | last1 = Chartier | first1 = Marion| pmc=5526441 }}
• Hummingbird flowers are scentless tubular flowers that have independently came about in at least four plant families. They attract nectar-feeding birds like: hummingbirds, honey eaters, sunbirds. Remote Hawaii also has hummingbird flowers.Convergent Evolution: Limited Forms Most Beautiful, By George R. McGhee, page 123
• Carrion flower type flowers that smell like rotting meat have independently came about in: pawpaw (family Annonaceae), the giant Indonesian parasitic flower Rafflesia, and African milkweed (Stapelia gigantea).[http://waynesword.palomar.edu/ww0602.htm Waynes Word, Stinking Flowers] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051108130150/http://waynesword.palomar.edu/ww0602.htm |date=2005-11-08 }}
• Fruit that develops underground, after the upper part is pollinated the flower stalk elongates, arches downward and pushes into the ground, this has independently came about in: peanut, legume, Florida's endangered burrowing four o'clock and Africa's Cucumis humifructus.{{Cite web|url=https://www.gardenguides.com/109043-fruits-vegetables-grow-under-ground.html|title=What Are Fruits & Vegetables That Grow Under the Ground?|website=Garden Guides}}
• Plant fruit: the fleshy nutritious part of plants that animal dispense by eating independently came about in flowering plants and in some gymnosperms like: ginkgo and cycads.{{cite journal |last1=Hall |first1=Jocelyn C. |last2=Tisdale |first2=Tracy E. |last3=Donohue |first3=Kathleen |last4=Wheeler |first4=Andrew |last5=Al-Yahya |first5=Mohammed A. |last6=Kramer |first6=Elena M. |title=Convergent evolution of a complex fruit structure in the tribe Brassiceae (Brassicaceae) |journal=American Journal of Botany |date=December 2011 |volume=98 |issue=12 |pages=1989–2003 |doi=10.3732/ajb.1100203 |pmid=22081414 |s2cid=21996443 }}
• Water transport systems, like vascular plant systems, with water conducting vessels, independently came about in horsetails, club mosses, ferns, and gymnosperms.{{cite journal |author=D. Edwards |year=1980 |title=Records of Cooksonia-type sporangia from late Wenlock strata in Ireland |journal=Nature |volume= 287 |pages=41–42 |doi=10.1038/287041a0 |last2=Feehan |first2=J. |s2cid=7958927 |issue=5777|bibcode=1980Natur.287...41E }}
• Wind pollination independently came about in pine trees, grasses, and wind pollinated flower.
• Wind dispersal of seeds independently came about in dandelions, milkweed, cottonwood trees, and others tufted seeds like, Impatiens sivarajanii, all adapted for wind dispersal.[http://waynesword.palomar.edu/plfeb99.htm Waynes Word, Blowing In The Wind, Seeds & Fruits Dispersed By Wind]
• Hallucinogenic toxins independently came about in: peyotecactus, Ayahuasca vine, some fungi like psilocybin mushroom.Glennon RA. Classical drugs: an introductory overview. In Lin GC and Glennon RA (eds). [http://archives.drugabuse.gov/pdf/monographs/146.pdf Hallucinogens: an update] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150723031539/http://archives.drugabuse.gov/pdf/monographs/146.pdf |date=2015-07-23 }}. National Institute on Drug Abuse: Rockville, MD, 1994.
• Plant toxins independently came about in: solauricine, daphnin, tinyatoxin, ledol, protoanemonin, lotaustralin, chaconine, persin and more.[http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2012/07/evolution-predictable-insects-eating-toxic-plants Cornell, Evolution highly predictable for insects eating toxic plants, By Krishna Ramanujan]
• Venus flytrap sea anemone is an animal and the Venus flytrap is a plant. Both look and act the same.{{cite WoRMS |author=van der Land, Jacob |year=2012 |title=Actinoscyphia aurelia (Stephenson, 1918) |id=100835 |accessdate=2012-12-30}}
• Digestive enzymes independently came about in carnivorous plants and animals.Williams, S. E. 2002. [http://carnivorousplants.org/cpn/articles/ICPS2002confp77_81.pdf Comparative physiology of the Droseraceae sensu stricto—How do tentacles bend and traps close?] Proceedings of the 4th International Carnivorous Plant Society Conference. Tokyo, Japan. pp. 77-81.

Image:E_obesa_symmetrica_ies.jpg|Euphorbia obesa

Image:Astrophytum asterias1.jpg|Astrophytum asterias

• There are a variety of saprophytic and parasitic organisms that have evolved the habit of growing into their substrates as thin strands for extracellular digestion. This is most typical of the "true" fungi, but it has also evolved in Actinomycetota (Bacteria), oomycetes (which are part of the stramenopile grouping, as are kelp), parasitic plants, and rhizocephalans (parasitic barnacles).Advanced Biology Principles, p296, fig 14.16—Diagram detailing the re-absorption of substrates within the hypha.Advanced biology principles, p 296—states the purpose of saprotrophs and their internal nutrition, as well as the main two types of fungi that are most often referred to, as well as describes, visually, the process of saprotrophic nutrition through a diagram of hyphae, referring to the Rhizobium on damp, stale whole-meal bread or rotting fruit.Clegg, C. J.; Mackean, D. G. (2006). Advanced Biology: Principles and Applications, 2nd ed. Hodder Publishing
• Slime molds are traditionally classified as fungi, but molecular-phylogeny work has revealed that most slime molds are not very close to Fungi proper and similar organisms, and that their slime-mold habit has originated several times. Mycetozoa (Amoebozoa), Labyrinthulomycetes (Stramenopiles), Phytomyxea and Guttulinopsis vulgaris{{cite journal|doi=10.1016/j.cub.2012.04.021 | volume=22 | title=Aggregative Multicellularity Evolved Independently in the Eukaryotic Supergroup Rhizaria|year=2012|journal=Current Biology|pages=1123–1127 | last1 = Brown | first1 = Matthew W. |issue=12 | pmid=22608512|doi-access=free}} (Rhizaria), Acrasidae (Excavata), Fonticula alba (Opisthokonta), and Myxobacteria (Bacteria). Mycetozoa itself contains myxogastrids, dictyostelids, and protostelids, likely with separate origins, with protostelids themselves likely originating several times.{{cite journal |last1=Shadwick |first1=Lora L. |last2=Spiegel |first2=Frederick W. |last3=Shadwick |first3=John D. L. |last4=Brown |first4=Matthew W. |last5=Silberman |first5=Jeffrey D. |title=Eumycetozoa = Amoebozoa?: SSUrDNA Phylogeny of Protosteloid Slime Molds and Its Significance for the Amoebozoan Supergroup |journal=PLOS ONE |date=25 August 2009 |volume=4 |issue=8 |pages=e6754 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0006754 |pmid=19707546 |pmc=2727795 |doi-access=free }}{{cite journal |last1=Fiore-Donno |first1=Anna Maria |last2=Nikolaev |first2=Sergey I. |last3=Nelson |first3=Michaela |last4=Pawlowski |first4=Jan |last5=Cavalier-Smith |first5=Thomas |last6=Baldauf |first6=Sandra L. |title=Deep Phylogeny and Evolution of Slime Moulds (Mycetozoa) |journal=Protist |date=January 2010 |volume=161 |issue=1 |pages=55–70 |doi=10.1016/j.protis.2009.05.002 |pmid=19656720 }}{{cite journal | doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0022780 | title = Comprehensive Phylogenetic Reconstruction of Amoebozoa Based on Concatenated Analyses of SSU-rDNA and Actin Genes | volume=6 | year=2011 | journal=PLOS ONE | page=e22780 | last1 = Lahr | first1 = Daniel J. G. | issue = 7 | pmid=21829512 | pmc=3145751| bibcode = 2011PLoSO...622780L | doi-access = free }}
• Specialized forms of osmotrophy are found in unrelated fungi and animals.{{cite journal |last1=Torruella |first1=Guifré |last2=de Mendoza |first2=Alex |last3=Grau-Bové |first3=Xavier |last4=Antó |first4=Meritxell |last5=Chaplin |first5=Mark A. |last6=del Campo |first6=Javier |last7=Eme |first7=Laura |last8=Pérez-Cordón |first8=Gregorio |last9=Whipps |first9=Christopher M. |last10=Nichols |first10=Krista M. |last11=Paley |first11=Richard |last12=Roger |first12=Andrew J. |last13=Sitjà-Bobadilla |first13=Ariadna |last14=Donachie |first14=Stuart |last15=Ruiz-Trillo |first15=Iñaki |title=Phylogenomics Reveals Convergent Evolution of Lifestyles in Close Relatives of Animals and Fungi |journal=Current Biology |date=September 2015 |volume=25 |issue=18 |pages=2404–2410 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2015.07.053 |pmid=26365255 |s2cid=18297223 |doi-access=free }}

{{multiple image

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| image1 = Triad convergence ser cys.svg

| image2 = Triad convergence thr.svg

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| caption1 = Evolutionary convergence of serine and cysteine protease towards the same catalytic triads organisation of acid-base-nucleophile in different protease superfamilies. Shown are the triads of subtilisin, prolyl oligopeptidase, TEV protease, and papain.

| caption2 = Evolutionary convergence of threonine proteases towards the same N-terminal active site organisation. Shown are the catalytic threonine of the proteasome and ornithine acetyltransferase.

}}

Here is a list of examples in which unrelated proteins have similar functions with different structure.

• The convergent orientation of the catalytic triad in the active site of serine and cysteine proteases independently in over 20 enzyme superfamilies.{{cite journal|last=Buller|first=AR|author2=Townsend, CA |title=Intrinsic evolutionary constraints on protease structure, enzyme acylation, and the identity of the catalytic triad.|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America|date=Feb 19, 2013|volume=110|issue=8|pages=E653–61|pmid=23382230|doi=10.1073/pnas.1221050110|pmc=3581919|bibcode=2013PNAS..110E.653B|doi-access=free}}
• The use of an N-terminal threonine for proteolysis.
• The existence of distinct families of carbonic anhydrase is believed to illustrate convergent evolution.
• The use of (Z)-7-dodecen-1-yl acetate as a sex pheromone by the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) and by more than 100 species of Lepidoptera.
• The biosynthesis of plant hormones such as gibberellin and abscisic acid by different biochemical pathways in plants and fungi.{{cite journal|author=Tudzynski B.|s2cid= 11191347|year= 2005|title=Gibberellin biosynthesis in fungi: genes, enzymes, evolution, and impact on biotechnology|journal=Appl Microbiol Biotechnol|volume=66|pages=597–611|pmid=15578178 | doi = 10.1007/s00253-004-1805-1|issue=6}}{{cite journal |vauthors=Siewers V, Smedsgaard J, Tudzynski P |title=The P450 monooxygenase BcABA1 is essential for abscisic acid biosynthesis in Botrytis cinerea |journal=Applied and Environmental Microbiology |volume=70 |issue=7 |pages=3868–76 |date=July 2004 |pmid=15240257 |pmc=444755 |doi=10.1128/AEM.70.7.3868-3876.2004|bibcode=2004ApEnM..70.3868S }}
• The protein prestin that drives the cochlea amplifier and confers high auditory sensitivity in mammals, shows numerous convergent amino acid replacements in bats and dolphins, both of which have independently evolved high frequency hearing for echolocation. This same signature of convergence has also been found in other genes expressed in the mammalian cochlea
• The repeated independent evolution of nylonase in two different strains of Flavobacterium and one strain of Pseudomonas.
• The myoglobin from the abalone Sulculus diversicolor has a different structure from normal myoglobin but serves a similar function — binding oxygen reversibly. "The molecular weight of Sulculus myoglobin is 41kD, 2.5 times larger than other myoglobins." Moreover, its amino acid sequence has no homology with other invertebrate myoglobins or with hemoglobins, but is 35% homologous with human indoleamine dioxygenase (IDO), a vertebrate tryptophan-degrading enzyme. It does not share similar function with IDO. "The IDO-like myoglobin is unexpectedly widely distributed among gastropodic molluscs, such as Sulculus, Nordotis, Battilus, Omphalius and Chlorostoma."{{cite journal |vauthors=Suzuki T, Yuasa H, Imai K |title=Convergent evolution. The gene structure of Sulculus 41 kDa myoglobin is homologous with that of human indoleamine dioxygenase |journal=Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Gene Structure and Expression |volume=1308 |issue=1 |pages=41–8 |date=July 1996 |pmid=8765749 |doi=10.1016/0167-4781(96)00059-0}}
• The hemocyanin from arthropods and molluscs evolved from different ancestors, tyrosinase and insect storage proteins, respectively. They have different molecular weight and structure. However, the proteins both use copper binding sites to transport oxygen.Anupam N&am, Jimmy Ng and Trustin Ennacheril, "The Molecular Evolution of Arthropod & Molluscan Hemocyanin, Evidence for Apomorphic origin and convergent evolution in O2 hinding sites", December 1, 1997
• The hexokinase, ribokinase, and galactokinase families of sugar kinases have similar enzymatic functions of sugar phosphorylation, but they evolved from three distinct nonhomologous families since they all have distinct three-dimensional folding and their conserved sequence patterns are strikingly different.{{cite journal |vauthors=Bork P, Sander C, Valencia A |title=Convergent evolution of similar enzymatic function on different protein folds: the hexokinase, ribokinase, and galactokinase families of sugar kinases |journal=Protein Science |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=31–40 |date=January 1993 |pmid=8382990 |pmc=2142297 |doi=10.1002/pro.5560020104}}
• Hemoglobins in jawed vertebrates and jawless fish evolved independently. The oxygen-binding hemoglobins of jawless fish evolved from an ancestor of cytoglobin which has no oxygen transport function and is expressed in fibroblast cells.{{cite journal |vauthors=Hoffmann FG, Opazo JC, Storz JF |title=Gene cooption and convergent evolution of oxygen transport hemoglobins in jawed and jawless vertebrates |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |volume=107 |issue=32 |pages=14274–9 |date=August 2010 |pmid=20660759 |pmc=2922537 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1006756107|bibcode=2010PNAS..10714274H |doi-access=free }}
• Toxic agent, serine protease BLTX, in the venom produced by two distinct species, the North American short-tailed shrew (Blarina brevicauda) and the Mexican beaded lizard, undergo convergent evolution. Although their structures are similar, it turns out that they increased the enzyme activity and toxicity through different way of structure changes. These changes are not found in the other non-venomous reptiles or mammals.{{cite journal |vauthors=Aminetzach YT, Srouji JR, Kong CY, Hoekstra HE |s2cid=15535648 |title=Convergent evolution of novel protein function in shrew and lizard venom |journal=Current Biology |volume=19 |issue=22 |pages=1925–31 |date=December 2009 |pmid=19879144 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2009.09.022|doi-access=free }}
• Another toxin BgK, a K+ channel-blocking toxin from the sea anemone Bunodosoma granulifera and scorpions adopt distinct scaffolds and unrelated structures, however, they have similar functions.{{cite journal |vauthors=Dauplais M, Lecoq A, Song J, etal |title=On the convergent evolution of animal toxins. Conservation of a diad of functional residues in potassium channel-blocking toxins with unrelated structures |journal=The Journal of Biological Chemistry |volume=272 |issue=7 |pages=4302–9 |date=February 1997 |pmid=9020148 |doi=10.1074/jbc.272.7.4302|doi-access=free }}
• Antifreeze proteins are a perfect example of convergent evolution. Different small proteins with a flat surface which is rich in threonine from different organisms are selected to bind to the surface of ice crystals. "These include two proteins from fish, the ocean pout and the winter flounder, and three very active proteins from insects, the yellow mealworm beetle, the spruce budworm moth, and the snow flea."{{cite journal |vauthors=Venketesh S, Dayananda C |s2cid=85025449 |title=Properties, potentials, and prospects of antifreeze proteins |journal=Critical Reviews in Biotechnology |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=57–82 |year=2008 |pmid=18322856 |doi=10.1080/07388550801891152}}
• RNA-binding proteins which contain RNA-binding domain (RBD) and the cold-shock domain (CSD) protein family are also an example of convergent evolution. Except that they both have conserved RNP motifs, other protein sequence are totally different. However, they have a similar function.{{cite journal |vauthors=Graumann P, Marahiel MA |title=A case of convergent evolution of nucleic acid binding modules |journal=BioEssays |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=309–15 |date=April 1996 |pmid=8967899 |doi=10.1002/bies.950180409|s2cid=10323259 }}
• Blue-light-receptive cryptochrome expressed in the sponge eyes likely evolved convergently in the absence of opsins and nervous systems. The fully sequenced genome of Amphimedon queenslandica, a demosponge larvae, lacks one vital visual component: opsin-a gene for a light-sensitive opsin pigment which is essential for vision in other animals.Ajna S. Rivera, Todd H. Oakley, etc. Blue-light-receptive cryptochrome is expressed in a sponge eye lacking neurons and Opsin, The Journal of Experimental Biology 215, 1278-1286
• The structure of immunoglobulin G-binding bacterial proteins A and H do not contain any sequences homologous to the constant repeats of IgG antibodies, but they have similar functions. Both protein G, A, H are inhibited in the interactions with IgG antibodies (IgGFc) by a synthetic peptide corresponding to an 11-amino-acid-long sequence in the COOH-terminal region of the repeats.{{cite journal |vauthors=Frick IM, Wikström M, Forsén S, etal |title=Convergent evolution among immunoglobulin G-binding bacterial proteins |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |volume=89 |issue=18 |pages=8532–6 |date=September 1992 |pmid=1528858 |pmc=49954 |doi=10.1073/pnas.89.18.8532|bibcode=1992PNAS...89.8532F |doi-access=free }}
• The evolution of cardiotonic steroid (CTS) resistance via amino acid substitutions at well-defined positions of the Na⁺,K⁺-ATPase α-subunit in multiple insect species spanning 6 orders.{{cite journal|last1=Zhen|first1=Ying|last2=Aardema|first2=Matthew L.|last3=Medina|first3=Edgar M.|last4=Schumer|first4=Molly|last5=Andolfatto|first5=Peter|date=2012-09-28|title=Parallel Molecular Evolution in an Herbivore Community|url= |journal=Science|language=en|volume=337|issue=6102|pages=1634–1637|doi=10.1126/science.1226630|issn=0036-8075|pmid=23019645|pmc=3770729|bibcode=2012Sci...337.1634Z}}Dobler, S., Dalla, S., Wagschal, V., & Agrawal, A. A. (2012). Community-wide convergent evolution in insect adaptation to toxic cardenolides by substitutions in the Na,K-ATPase. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(32), 13040–13045. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1202111109{{cite journal |last1=Yang|first1=L|last2=Ravikanthachari|first2=N|last3=Mariño-Pérez|first3=R|last4=Deshmukh|first4=R|last5=Wu|first5=M|last6=Rosenstein|first6=A|last7=Kunte|first7=K|last8=Song|first8=H|last9=Andolfatto|first9=P.|title=Predictability in the evolution of Orthopteran cardenolide insensitivity.|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B|date=2019 |volume=374 |issue=1777|pages=20180246 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2018.0246|pmid=31154978|pmc=6560278}}

Here is a list of examples in which unrelated proteins have similar tertiary structures but different functions. Whole protein structural convergence is not thought to occur but some convergence of pockets and secondary structural elements have been documented.

• Some secondary structure convergence occurs due to some residues favouring being in α-helix (helical propensity) and for hydrophobic patches or pocket to be formed at the ends of the parallel sheets.{{cite journal |vauthors=Rao ST, Rossmann MG |title=Comparison of super-secondary structures in proteins |journal=Journal of Molecular Biology |volume=76 |issue=2 |pages=241–56 |date=May 1973 |pmid=4737475 |doi=10.1016/0022-2836(73)90388-4}}
• [http://scoppi.biotec.tu-dresden.de/abac/ ABAC] is a database of convergently evolved protein interaction interfaces. Examples comprise fibronectin/long chain cytokines, NEF/SH2, cyclophilin/capsid proteins.{{cite journal |vauthors=Henschel A, Kim WK, Schroeder M |title=Equivalent binding sites reveal convergently evolved interaction motifs |journal=Bioinformatics |volume=22 |issue=5 |pages=550–5 |date=March 2006 |pmid=16287935 |doi=10.1093/bioinformatics/bti782|doi-access=free }}

The most well-studied example is the Spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, which independently evolved at the same positions regardless of the underlying sublineage.{{cite book |last1=Focosi |first1=Daniele |title=SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein convergent evolution |series=SpringerBriefs in Microbiology |year=2021 |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-87324-0 |isbn=978-3-030-87324-0 |s2cid=238534021 |edition=1st |url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-87324-0 |access-date=26 September 2022}} The most ominent examples from the pre-Omicron era were E484K and N501Y, while in the Omicron era examples include R493Q, R346X, N444X, L452X, N460X, F486X, and F490X.

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{{Reflist|30em}}

{{portal|Ecology}}

• McGhee, G.R. (2011) Convergent Evolution: Limited Forms Most Beautiful. Vienna Series in Theoretical Biology: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, Cambridge (MA). 322 pp.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Examples of convergent evolution}}

Convergent evolution examples

Convergent evolution examples