New answers tagged taxonomy
3
You are correct that the reason is similar to that of convergent evolution of the eye.
Both snakes and legless lizards are lizards (Squamata) that have lost their legs. However they have done so entirely separately much as octopus and human eyes have evolved entirely separately. An easier analogy is between whales and sea cows. Both are legless mammals but ...
1
Indeed this is a bit of interesting history. Linnaeus was not a modest man, but he was also a prodigious contributor to biology. He made many editions of his two major works Species Plantarum (1753) and Systema Naturae published in 1759. Systema Naturae covered both plants and animals and had 12 editions, eventually with 3 volumes in several parts.
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