common ancestry
Same family tree
Common ancestry is the idea that two or more organisms, species, or groups descend from a shared ancestor.
In evolutionary biology, common ancestry explains why different species share anatomical features, genetic sequences, or developmental patterns: Humans and chimpanzees share a common ancestry going back millions of years.
The concept extends beyond biology to languages, cultures, or family lines tracing back to the same origin.
- speciationFormation of distinct species
- geneticsScience of hereditary transmission
- kinshipState of being related
- cladisticsClassification by common descent
- natural selectionDifferential reproductive success
distant relatives · genealogy · heritage · comparative anatomy · creation myths · tree of life · folklore · missing link · homology · fossil record · deep time · adaptation · evolution · DNA sequencing · genetic code · relatedness · offspring · lineage
- evolutionevolution, natural selection, mutation, adaptation, speciation
- DarwinCharles Darwin, natural selection, evolution, HMS Beagle, Galapagos
- origins debatecreationism, evolution, intelligent design, creation science, Darwinism
- tribal culturetribe, clan mother, clan loyalty, elder council, kinship ties
- macroevolutionmacroevolution, speciation, extinction, fossil record, phylogeny
- phylogeneticscladogram, clade, phylogeny, phylogenetics, cladistics