Welcome!
This website aims to tell you nearly everything you need (and may ever want) to know about convergent evolution. It allows you to explore the way that similar adaptive solutions have repeatedly evolved from unrelated starting points, as though following a metaphorical ‘map’.
We have identified hundreds of examples of convergence, so if you want to learn about convergence in sex (e.g. love-darts), eyes (e.g. camera-eyes in jellyfish), agriculture (e.g. in ants) or gliding (e.g. in lizards and mammals) then this is your best port of call.
Any of the information presented in the Map of Life may be freely reproduced, as long as it is acknowledged fully. Citation details can be found at the bottom of each Topic, in the format: Map of Life – “Topic title”, Topic web page address, Month/Year downloaded
Showcase Topic: Agriculture in damselfish
Spotlight on Research:
“Evolution of pufferfish inflation behavior”
P.C. Wainwright & R.G. Turingan 1997, Evolution, volume 51, pages 506-518.
Pufferfish are well known for their ability to inflate themselves by swallowing air. This paper investigates how this defensive behaviour might have originated and reports a case of convergent evolution of inflation behaviour. At least one genus of filefish shows a limited ability to inflate the abdomen by swallowing water, while lacking any of the morphological specialisations seen in pufferfish.
