Question

Explain the statement "Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny".

Answer 1

Ontogeny is the development of an individual; phylogeny is the evolutionary history of its group. The phrase “ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny” is the historical recapitulation theory, which proposed that an organism’s development repeats its evolutionary history. Similarities among early vertebrate embryos such as pharyngeal structures and a tail-like region support common ancestry. However, modern biology does not regard development as a literal replay of ancestral adult forms. 

Embryology provides evidence of evolutionary relationships, but the original claim is an oversimplification.