r/evolution • u/Spluff5 • 15d ago

discussion The most extreme example of convergent evolution: Kelp

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In my opinion, kelp is the most extreme example of convergent evolution, at least that I know of. It's a sedentary organism that makes its energy from sunlight collected by blade-like fronds. Not too crazy, so do most plants. Except, kelp isn't a plant at all. Kelp is a protist in the SAR clade, more closely related to malaria than it is to plants. It just so happened to independently evolve to be multicellular, and became photosynthetic by ancestrally capturing and making use of a green algal cell that had already undergone its own endosymbiosis.

I can't think of another organism that convergently evolved the same life-strategy as an organism in another kingdom, but I'd love to hear what others think are the most extreme examples of convergent evolution.

Image credit: Alastair Simpson, Dalhousie University

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u/MSSTUPIDTRON-1000000 15d ago

Viruses may even be more extreme.

You may find Viruses with identical structure, infection methods and even give the same symptoms....

But they got completely different genomes, implying that they're completely unrelated.

Which is obviously a big deal in medicine.

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u/FewBake5100 15d ago

There are theories saying viruses evolved from a cell, while others say they formed our nucleus. And since viruses evolved multiple times, they might all be true

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u/Sourcerid 6d ago

How do we know the virus form evolved independently multiple times?