Lineage (evolution) in the context of "Evolution of the horse"

An amoeba or ameba /əˈmiːbə/ (pl.: amoebas or amebas (less commonly, amoebae or amebae /əˈmiːbi/)), often called an amoeboid, is a type of cell or unicellular organism with the ability to alter its shape, primarily by extending and retracting pseudopods. Amoebae do not form a single taxonomic group; instead, they are found in every major lineage of eukaryotic organisms. Amoeboid cells occur not only among the protozoa, but also in fungi, algae, and animals.

Microbiologists often use the terms "amoeboid" and "amoeba" interchangeably for any organism that exhibits amoeboid movement.

A number of lineages of crabs have evolved to live predominantly on land. Examples of terrestrial crabs are found in the families Gecarcinidae and Gecarcinucidae, as well as in selected genera from other families, such as Sesarma, although the term "land crab" is often used to mean solely the family Gecarcinidae.

Freshwater bivalves are molluscs of the order Bivalvia that inhabit freshwater ecosystems. They are one of the two main groups of freshwater molluscs, along with freshwater snails.

The majority of bivalve molluscs are saltwater species that live in the marine habitats, but a number of families have evolved to live in fresh water (and in some cases, also in brackish water). These belong to two different evolutionary lineages, i.e. freshwater mussels and freshwater clams, and the two groups are not closely related. Freshwater bivalves have a simple morphology that varies among taxa, and are distributed around most regions of the world.

The list of human cell types provides an enumeration and description of the various specialized cells found within the human body, highlighting their distinct functions, characteristics, and contributions to overall physiological processes. Cells may be classified by their physiological function, histology (microscopic anatomy), lineage, or gene expression.

The red panda (Ailurus fulgens), also known as the lesser panda, is a small mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. It has dense reddish-brown fur with a black belly and legs, white-lined ears, a mostly white muzzle and a ringed tail. Its head-to-body length is 51–63.5 cm (20.1–25.0 in) with a 28–48.5 cm (11.0–19.1 in) tail, and it weighs between 3.2 and 15 kg (7.1 and 33.1 lb). It is well adapted to climbing due to its flexible joints and curved semi-retractile claws.

The red panda was formally described in 1825. The two recognised subspecies, the Himalayan and the Chinese red panda, genetically diverged about 250,000 years ago. The red panda's place on the evolutionary tree has been debated, but modern genetic evidence places it in close affinity with raccoons, weasels, and skunks. It is not closely related to the giant panda, which is a bear, though both possess elongated wrist bones or "false thumbs" used for grasping bamboo. The evolutionary lineage of the red panda (Ailuridae) stretches back around 25 to 18 million years ago, as indicated by extinct fossil relatives found in Eurasia and North America.

The Paleotropical kingdom (Paleotropis) is a floristic kingdom composed of the tropical areas of Africa, Asia and Oceania (excluding Australia and New Zealand), as proposed by Ronald Good and Armen Takhtajan. Part of its flora is inherited from the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana or exchanged later (e.g. Piperaceae with pantropical distribution and but few warm temperate representatives). These Gondwanan lineages are related to those in the Neotropical kingdom, composed of the tropical areas of Central and South America. Flora from the Paleotropical kingdom influenced the tropical flora of the Australian Kingdom. The kingdom is subdivided into five floristic subkingdoms according to Takhtajan (or three, according to Good) and about 13 floristic regions. In this article the floristic subkingdoms and regions are given as delineated by Takhtajan.

Recurrent evolution also referred to as repeated or replicated evolution is the repeated evolution of a particular trait, character, or mutation. Most evolution is the result of drift, often interpreted as the random chance of some alleles being passed down to the next generation and others not. Recurrent evolution is said to occur when patterns emerge from this stochastic process when looking across multiple distinct populations. These patterns are of particular interest to evolutionary biologists, as they can demonstrate the underlying forces governing evolution.

Recurrent evolution is a broad term, but it is usually used to describe recurring regimes of selection within or across lineages. While most commonly used to describe recurring patterns of selection, it can also be used to describe recurring patterns of mutation; for example, transitions are more common than transversions. The concept encompasses both convergent evolution and parallel evolution; it can be used to describe the observation of similar repeating changes through directional selection as well as the observation of highly conserved phenotypes or genotypes across lineages through continuous purifying selection over large periods of evolutionary time.

A tree frog (or treefrog) is any species of frog that spends a major portion of its lifespan in trees, known as an arboreal state. Several lineages of frogs among the Neobatrachia suborder have given rise to treefrogs, although they are not closely related to each other.

Millions of years of convergent evolution have resulted in very similar morphology even in species that are not very closely related.Furthermore, tree frogs in seasonally arid environments have adapted an extra-epidermal layer of lipid and mucus as an evolutionary convergent response to accommodate the periodic dehydration stress.