Suppose that two distantly related species live in similar environments and share a distinctive characteristic that facilitates survival in their environment but is not found in their immediate ancestors. based on this information, this distinctive feature most likely represents

The convergent evolution may cause the arising of the similar traits in distantly related species. These traits may arise due to the demands during the course of evolution, the reason for having a different origin may be that it was not required initially, but required later. The bones of the birds and the bat are homologous in structure, but the origin of the wings are different.

So, these characters represent a type of convergent evolution.