Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Volume 279, Issue 1729, Pages 739-748Publisher
ROYAL SOC
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2011.0840
Keywords
evo-devo; parallel evolution; convergent evolution; allometry
Categories
Funding
- David and Lucile Packard Foundation
- National Science Foundation [0508696]
- Department of Biology, Washington University in St Louis
- Sigma xi
- Division Of Integrative Organismal Systems
- Direct For Biological Sciences [0508696] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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The independent evolution of similar morphologies has long been a subject of considerable interest to biologists. Does phenotypic convergence reflect the primacy of natural selection, or does development set the course of evolution by channelling variation in certain directions? Here, we examine the ontogenetic origins of relative limb length variation among Anolis lizard habitat specialists to address whether convergent phenotypes have arisen through convergent developmental trajectories. Despite the numerous developmental processes that could potentially contribute to variation in adult limb length, our analyses reveal that, in Anolis lizards, such variation is repeatedly the result of changes occurring very early in development, prior to formation of the cartilaginous long bone anlagen.
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