Ontogeny, Phylogeny, Paleontology, and the Biogenetic Law

Nelson, Gareth

doi:10.2307/2412883

Cited by 359 publications

(266 citation statements)

References 20 publications

(11 reference statements)

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“…Patterson, 1982:29), equivalence between the two notions had been noticed on several previous occasions (e.g. Wiley, 1975Wiley, , 1976Bonde, 1977;Bock, 1977;Szalay, 1977;Platnick and Cameron, 1977;Nelson, 1978;Cracraft, 1978;Patterson, 1978;Platnick, 1979;Gaffney, 1979;all cited in Patterson, 1982). Additionally, Eldredge and Cracraft (1980:36) were as explicit as to say "... homology can be conceptualized simply as synapomorphy (including symplesiomorphy [...])".…”

Section: Homology As Synapomorphy: a Reappraisalmentioning

confidence: 77%

Concepts and Tests of Homology in the Cladistic Paradigm

1991

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Abstract-Logical equivalence between the notions of homology and synapomorphy is reviewed and supported. So-called transformational homology embodies two distinct logical components, one related to comparisons among different organisms and the other restricted to comparisons within the same organism. The former is essentially hierarchical in nature, thus being in fact a less obvious form of taxic homology. The latter is logically equivalent to so-called serial homology in a broad sense (including homonomy, mass homology or iterative homology) -Of three tests of homology proposed to date (similarity, conjunction and congruence) only congruence serves as a test in the strict sense. Similarity stands at a basic level in homology propositions, being the source of the homology conjecture in the first place. Conjunction is unquestionably an indicator of non-homology, but it is not specific about the pairwise comparison where non-homology is present, and depends on a specific scheme of relationship in order to refute a hypothesis of homology. The congruence test has been previously seen as an application of compatibility analysis-However, congruence is more appropriately seen as an expression of strict parsimony analysis. A general theoretical solution is proposed to determine evolution of characters with ambiguous distributions, based on the notion of maximization of . homology propositions. According to that notion, ambiguous character-state distributions should be resolved by an optimization that maximizes reversals relative to parallelisms. Notions of homology in morphology and molecular biology are essentially the same. The present tendency to adopt different terminologies for the two sources of data should be avoided, in order not to obscure the fundamental uniformity of the concept of homology in comparative biology.

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Section: Homology As Synapomorphy: a Reappraisalmentioning

confidence: 77%

Concepts and Tests of Homology in the Cladistic Paradigm

1991

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“…Understanding the development of a complex skeletal element can help us to better understand its origin, homology and function 9,10 . The sternum of Cretaceous ornithurines, the clade that includes living birds, is essentially modern in appearance, preserving all major structural features that are present in neornithines (for example, rostrally projecting, ventrally deep keel, deep coracoidal sulci, rostral spine, craniolateral processes, caudal fenestrae).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Insight into the early evolution of the avian sternum from juvenile enantiornithines

et al. 2012

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The sternum is one of the most important and characteristic skeletal elements in living birds, highly adapted for flight and showing a diverse range of morphologies. new exceptional material of young juvenile specimens from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Group in northeastern China reveals the unique sequence of development in the sternum of Enantiornithes, the dominant clade of Cretaceous birds. We recognize six ossifications that together form the sternum, three of which were previously unknown. Here we show that although basal living birds apparently have retained the dinosaurian condition in which the sternum develops from a bilateral pair of ossifications (present in paravian dinosaurs and basal birds), the enantiornithine sternal body primarily develops from two unilateral proximo-distally arranged ossifications. This indicates that although superficially similar, the sternum formed very differently in enantiornithines and ornithuromorphs, suggesting that several ornithothoracine sternal features may represent parallelism. This highlights the importance of ontogenetic studies for understanding homology and the evolution of skeletal features in palaeontology.

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“…Next, the direction of evolutionary change among the states of each character is established. Several methods have been developed to facilitate this process, including communality (46), ontogenetic analysis (47), and stratigraphic sequence analysis (48). The currently favored method is outgroup analysis (49), which entails examining a close relative of the study group.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phylogenetic analyses of behavior support existence of culture among wild chimpanzees

Lycett

Collard

McGrew

2007

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Culture has long been considered to be not only unique to humans, but also responsible for making us qualitatively different from all other forms of life. In recent years, however, researchers studying chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) have challenged this idea. Natural populations of chimpanzees have been found to vary greatly in their behavior. Because many of these interpopulation differences cannot be readily explained by ecological factors, it has been argued that they result from social learning and, therefore, can be regarded as cultural variations. Recent studies showing social transmission in captive chimpanzee populations suggest that this hypothesis is plausible. However, the culture hypothesis has been questioned on the grounds that the behavioral variation may be explained at a proximate level by genetic differences between subspecies. Here we use cladistic analyses of the major cross-site behavioral data set to test the hypothesis that the behavioral differences among the best-documented chimpanzee populations are genetically determined. If behavioral diversity is primarily the product of genetic differences between subspecies, then population data should show less phylogenetic structure when data from a single subspecies (P. t. schweinfurthii) are compared with data from two subspecies (P. t. verus and P. t. schweinfurthii) analyzed together. Our findings are inconsistent with the hypothesis that the observed behavioral patterns of wild chimpanzee populations can be explained primarily by genetic differences between subspecies. Instead, our results support the suggestion that the behavioral patterns are the product of social learning and, therefore, can be considered cultural.social learning ͉ cultural transmission ͉ Pan troglodytes ͉ cladistics

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Ontogeny, Phylogeny, Paleontology, and the Biogenetic Law

Cited by 359 publications

References 20 publications

Concepts and Tests of Homology in the Cladistic Paradigm

Concepts and Tests of Homology in the Cladistic Paradigm

Insight into the early evolution of the avian sternum from juvenile enantiornithines

Phylogenetic analyses of behavior support existence of culture among wild chimpanzees

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