Re: Re: your mail

[Thomas_R_HOLTZ@umail.umd.edu (th81)]

>       That's not how I understood the question; the original poster was
>asking about the term for organisms that are the *end result* of 
>convergent evolution.  For example, "The marsupial mole, the golden mole, 
>and the true moles are _______, and they got that way through convergent 
>evolution."  
>
>       I'm not sure what to tell him.  Mimics?  Counterparts?  
>Imposters?  Perhaps "confaciates" ("having appearances together")?  I've 
>never heard a technical term describing this relationship--as opposed to 
>the phenomenon that causes it, i.e. convergent evolution.  Am I making 
>any sense here?

One term paleoecologists use here is "avatars". (Avatars, in the original
sense, were different incarnations of the various Hindu gods).

So, the marsupial sabretooth, the nimravid sabretooths (-teeth?), and the
true sabrecats are all different avatars of the sabretoothed mammal mode.

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Vertebrate Paleontologist     Webpage: http://www.geol.umd.edu
Dept. of Geology              Email:th81@umail.umd.edu
University of Maryland        Phone:301-405-4084
College Park, MD  20742       Fax:  301-314-9661