Similar to how humans and apes have a common ancestor, the horseshoe crabs would have an ancestor which looked very similar to today’s version, although slightly different, and some of them would have evolved into other things while some remained relatively unchanged.
Yeah, taxonomic classification always falls short of the natural world. It may be the same taxonomy, but that doesn’t mean they’re exactly the same.
Hell, if we only had dog fossils to work with, different breeds would almost certainly be considered entirely different species. But as it currently stands, they’re all the same species, (canis lupus familiaris), because we know the different breeds can mate with each other and produce viable offspring.
Similar to how humans and apes have a common ancestor, the horseshoe crabs would have an ancestor which looked very similar to today’s version, although slightly different, and some of them would have evolved into other things while some remained relatively unchanged.
From what I can tell, arachnids might share a common ancestor with horseshoe crabs, which is kinda crazy to think about.
As well, they look the same phycially but the DNA has changed significantly, potentially just internal things or chemical/biological processes etc.
Yeah, taxonomic classification always falls short of the natural world. It may be the same taxonomy, but that doesn’t mean they’re exactly the same.
Hell, if we only had dog fossils to work with, different breeds would almost certainly be considered entirely different species. But as it currently stands, they’re all the same species, (canis lupus familiaris), because we know the different breeds can mate with each other and produce viable offspring.