Question

Explain the following question using 1 to 2 paragrphs.

You are asked to come up with a list of morphilogical traits to use to identify different species of dragons. What are some of the qualities you would want in a trait. For example, they would have heritable traits.. what else?

It doesn't ask for actual traits in dragons, its just asking for what type of general morphilogical traits would be useful to determine different species in an organism. For example, heritable traits.

Answer 1

Traits fro identification, besides being inheritable, need to be homologous. Species classification is based on evolutionary relationships, that is they are classified by their common ancestry. An homologous trait is a trait that was born once in history and was inherited to the descendants, the opposite to this is an analogy, which is a trait that has different origins in different taxa. Homologies reflect ancestry, that is why they are useful for identification.

If we are talking about simple identification by observation then we require the traits to be morphological or behavioral too, since molecular traits cannot be observed in the same manner.

Traits to be inheritable and to reflect ancestry (homologies) are the only things needed to classify and identify dragon species.