compare the raccoon and opossum skulls, this evolutionary similarity has a name, identify the term
The skull structure of opossum and raccoon are similar, but they have distinguishing characteristics. Raccoons are placental mammals with long bushy tails. Whereas opossums are marsupials with rat-like appearance.
This occurrence of similar anatomical structures in two different groups occurs due to the convergent evolution.
Analogous structures (convergent evolution) are not found in the common ancestors but the same structure or similar structure with the same function can be found in one or more groups. In such cases, it is not clear to tract the ancestry but the homologous structures are helpful to track the ancestry.
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