Modern whales have bones that are remnants of a pelvis and legs that serve no function.This would be an example of a/an:

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The presence of bones that serve no function is a clear indication of a vestigial character, which is a trait that has lost its original function through evolution. In this case, the bones are remnants of a pelvis and legs that were functional in ancestral whales but have become vestigial in their modern descendants. This is not an example of a homologous structure because the vestigial bones in whales do not serve the same function as the corresponding bones in other mammals. It is not a polygenic character, which refers to a trait that is controlled by multiple genes, and it is not an analogous structure, which is a trait that has a similar function but a different evolutionary origin.

Modern Whales Have Bones That Are Remnants of a Pelvis