Question

Homologous organs are
A. Wings of Pigeon and Butterfly
B. Wings of Pigeon and Housefly
C. Wings of Pigeon and arms of Humans
D. Wings of bat, Housefly and Butterfly

Answer 1

Hint: The organs having similar structural organisation but different functions are called homologous organs.

Complete Answer:
- The term “homologous” is derived from a Greek word “homologos” where ‘homo’ means ‘same’ and ‘logos’ means ‘relation’. Homologous organs are the organs having the same origin and similar basic structure or in other words we can say that they have originated from the common ancestry but may differ in external look and function.
- According to Evolutionary biology the difference in external appearance of homologous organs is because of their adaptation to different functions during the course of evolution. Thus, homologous organs confer the divergent type of evolution.
- Among the given options, the wings of Pigeon and arms of Humans are the homologous organs because they have the same basic structure but they perform different functions.
- Wings of Pigeon and wings of butterfly or housefly, or wings of bat and wings of butterfly or housefly are the examples of analogous organs that are opposite of homologous organs.
- These are the organs that are evolved separately in widely independent groups and they have different structural plans but they perform the similar function.
- For example the wings of birds and wings of insects evolved independently but converged functionally to perform the function of flight. So, they are the analogous organs and they confer the convergent type of evolution.

Thus, the correct answer is C, i.e., wings of Pigeon and arms of Humans.

Note: In the evolutionary studies, the presence of homologous or analogous organs helps in finding the phylogeny of the fossils. The study of homologous organs is called homology, and the study of analogous organs is called analogy.