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The sea spider's contribution to T.H. Morgan's (1866–1945) development
Author(s) -
Maxmen Amy
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of experimental zoology part b: molecular and developmental evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.823
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1552-5015
pISSN - 1552-5007
DOI - 10.1002/jez.b.21202
Subject(s) - evolvability , biology , phylogenetic tree , evolutionary biology , evolutionary developmental biology , variation (astronomy) , phylogenetics , zoology , morphology (biology) , ontogeny , genealogy , epistemology , ecology , philosophy , history , genetics , physics , astrophysics , gene
Over a century ago, T.H. Morgan helped found The Journal of Experimental Zoölogy , a series devoted to emerging investigations in development and evolution, variation and heredity, adaptation and ecology. T.H. Morgan initially encountered these topics in his graduate research on the ontogeny and phylogeny of the sea spiders. His Ph.D. thesis, written in 1891, reflects in interesting ways the conceptual shifts in evolutionary biology in the late 1800s. Embryology had become a major criterion in using morphological similarity to speculate on phylogenetic relationships. Yet, when Morgan studied the development of sea spiders to draw conclusions about their relatedness, he struggled with the incompleteness of knowledge about the role of inheritance and variation of ontogenetic processes. This can best be seen in his discussions of the properties of conservation during embryonic cleavage, varied development of supposedly homologous appendages, and the evolvability of larval stages. After his dissertation, Morgan never returned to phylogenetic analysis. He had been dissatisfied with the plethora of untestable phylogenetic hypotheses based on comparing complicated embryological phenomenon, and joined an experimental movement in which systems were explicitly chosen and constructed to test hypotheses about developmental processes. J. Exp. Zool. (Mol. Dev. Evol.) 310B:203–215, 2008 . © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.