Beyond Heterochrony: The Evolution of Development

Beyond Heterochrony: The Evolution of Development

The ten chapters in Beyond Heterochrony: The Evolution of Development explore the evolution of biological development from many different perspectives. They present their research and consider all sides of the often controversial concept of heterochrony without intellectual limits.

In looking beyond heterochrony, this book attends to a variety of explanations for evolutionary development. The chapters present theoretical and practical approaches with real data, using examples from both extant and extinct forms of animal and plant life to present refreshing and at times divergent perspectives on the subject.

Each chapter offers a substantive and original contribution to the literature, with case studies that explore the developmental basis of morphological evolution in a unique way. They address a number of issues and provide real data on which their conclusions rest, as well as the phylogenetic context of evolutionary interpretations.

The book includes thorough analysis of the ontogeny and phylogeny of shape-for decades the very heart of studies of heterochrony-and also presents novel approaches with new hypotheses. The hypotheses considered are as diverse as their analytical methodologies: each goes beyond heterochrony in a different way and in so doing, steers the discussion of the evolution of development in fascinating new directions.

Table of Contents

Foreword (Brian K. Hall).

Preface.

Contributors.

1. The Developmental Basis of Morphological Disarmament in Prunum (Neogastropoda: Marginellidae) (Ross H. Nehm).

2. Ontogenetic Sequences: Homology, Evolution, and the Patterning of Clade Diversity (Larry Hufford).

3. A Detailed Scenario and Possible Tests of the Mostly Male Theory of Flower Evolutionary Origins (Michael W. Frohlich).

4. Allometric Patterning in Trilobite Ontogeny: Testing for Heterochrony in Nephrolenellus (Mark Webster, H. David Sheets, and Nigel C. Hughes).

5. The Spatial Complexity and Evolutionary Dynamics of Growth (Miriam Leah Zelditch, H. David Sheets, and William L. Fink).

6. Spatial and Temporal Growth Patterns in the Phenotypically Variable Littorina saxatilis: Surprising Patterns Emerge from Chaos (Robert Guralnick and James Kurpius).

7. Pigment Patterns of Ectothermic Vertebrates: Heterochronic vs. Nonheterochronic Models for Pigment Pattern Evolution (David M. Parichy).

8. Testing the Hypothesis of Heterochrony in Morphometric Data: Lessons from a Bivalved Mollusk (Peter D. Roopnarine).

9. Testing Modularity and Dissociation: The Evolution of Regional Proportions in Snakes (P. David Polly, Jason J. Head, and Martin J. Cohn).

10. Novel Features of Tetrapod Limb Development in Two Nontraditional Model Species: A Skink and a Direct-Developing Frog (Michael D. Shapiro and Timothy F. Carl)

Index.