Convergent Evolution & Adaptive Radiation — NEET Biology
✅ Asked in NEET 2026Placental mammals in Australia also exhibit adaptive radiation in evolving into varieties of such placental mammals each of which appears to be 'similar' to a corresponding marsupial (e.g., Placental wolf and Tasmanian wolf-marsupial)..
Convergent evolution occurs when unrelated species in different habitats develop similar traits independently to adapt to similar environments. NEET tests this through marsupials and placental mammals (like Tasmanian wolf vs placental wolf) that look alike despite different ancestry. Students often confuse it with divergent evolution, thinking similar structures mean common ancestry—but convergent evolution proves the opposite: distant organisms evolve similar features separately. The key distinction: convergent evolution = similar traits, different origins; common ancestry creates homologous structures. Remember that placental and marsupial mammals are completely different lineages yet evolved similar forms through adaptive radiation into available ecological niches in Australia.
Which of the following is not an example of convergent evolution?
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