<P> In biology, homology is the existence of shared ancestry between a pair of structures, or genes, in different taxa . A common example of homologous structures is the forelimbs of vertebrates, where the wings of bats, the arms of primates, the front flippers of whales and the forelegs of dogs and horses are all derived from the same ancestral tetrapod structure . Evolutionary biology explains homologous structures adapted to different purposes as the result of descent with modification from a common ancestor . Homology was explained by Charles Darwin's theory of evolution in 1859, but had been observed before this, from Aristotle onwards, and it was explicitly analysed by Pierre Belon in 1555 . The term was applied to biology by the anatomist Richard Owen in 1843 . </P> <P> In developmental biology, organs that developed in the embryo in the same manner and from similar origins, such as from matching primordia in successive segments of the same animal, are serially homologous . Examples include the legs of a centipede, the maxillary palp and labial palp of an insect, and the spinous processes of successive vertebrae in a vertebral column . Male and female reproductive organs are homologous if they develop from the same embryonic tissue, as do the ovaries and testicles of mammals including humans . </P>

What term describes features that are similar in structure but different in function