Unraveling the heritage of lost traits

Alexa Sadier; Karen E Sears; Molly Womack

doi:10.1002/jez.b.23030

Unraveling the heritage of lost traits

J Exp Zool B Mol Dev Evol. 2022 Jan;338(1-2):107-118. doi: 10.1002/jez.b.23030. Epub 2021 Feb 2.

Authors

Alexa Sadier¹, Karen E Sears¹, Molly Womack²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
² Department of Biology, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, USA.

PMID: 33528870
DOI: 10.1002/jez.b.23030

Abstract

We synthesize ontogenetic work spanning the past century that show evolutionarily lost structures are rarely entirely absent from earlier developmental stages. We discuss morphological and genetic insights from developmental studies reveal about the evolution of trait loss and regain.

Keywords: embryology; evo-devo; trait loss; vestigial organs.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Biological Evolution*
Developmental Biology* / history
Phenotype