Homoplasy (IMAGE) U.S. National Science Foundation Caption Homoplasy is a fascinating and unusual occurrence in evolution. It is the independent acquisition of the same trait in unrelated lineages. To understand whether multiple organisms share the same trait because of homoplasy, their places in the evolutionary tree of life must be defined. Parallelism/convergence homoplasy occurs when the same trait is present in two lineages that lack a recent common ancestor. Reversal homoplasy occurs when a trait is present in an ancestor but not its immediate descendants; but appears later in a subsequent descendant. Credit Zina Deretsky Usage Restrictions None License Licensed content Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.