Transitive homology

This page explores the transitive closure of the homologous_to relation. Currently in OBD this is a binary class-level relation that holds between two taxon-specific anatomical entities.

I propose the following expansion to OWL-DL instance-level quantified axioms:

 homologous_to(A,B) ==>
 Class: A
 SubClassOf: descendedFrom some (hasDescendant some B)
 Class: B
 SubClassOf: descendedFrom some (hasDescendant some A)

If we make the simplifying assumption that directlyDescendsFrom is functional then it follows that class-level homology is transitive. What are the consequences of making this strong assumption? We can explore this with existing phenoscape data:

Otophysi intercalarium

this is annotated to be homologous to the neural arch 2 and vertebra 2 in Teleosti. From this, what can be said of the relationship between these two entities?

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Note that for compactness reasons this diagram doesn't show the part_of relations.

• intercalarium part_of v2

presumably there should be some kind of relationship between "rib of v2" and "v2"

Otophysi tripus

this is annotated to be homologous to (i) the fusion of parapophysis + rib of v3 and (ii) the fusion of parapophysis + rib of v3 + rib of v4 in Teleosti. What can be said from this of the relation between (i) and (ii)

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