The Development of Animal Form
Ontogeny, Morphology, and Evolution

The Development of Animal Form integrates traditional morphological and contemporary molecular genetic approaches to evolutionary developmental biology or 'evo-devo'.

Alessandro Minelli (Author)

9780521025188, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 16 March 2006

344 pages, 49 b/w illus.
23.9 x 15.6 x 1.9 cm, 0.481 kg

'… contains some very interesting ideas and is well worth the read.' Benedikt Hallgrímsson, International Journal of Primatology

Contemporary research in the field of evolutionary developmental biology, or 'evo-devo', has to date been predominantly devoted to interpreting basic features of animal architecture in molecular genetics terms. Considerably less time has been spent on the exploitation of the wealth of facts and concepts available from traditional disciplines, such as comparative morphology, even though these traditional approaches can continue to offer a fresh insight into evolutionary developmental questions. The Development of Animal Form aims to integrate traditional morphological and contemporary molecular genetic approaches and to deal with post-embryonic development as well. This approach leads to unconventional views on the basic features of animal organization, such as body axes, symmetry, segments, body regions, appendages and related concepts. This book will be of particular interest to graduate students and researchers in evolutionary and developmental biology, as well as to those in related areas of cell biology, genetics and zoology.

Preface
Acknowledgments
1. The nature of development
2. Everything begun to the service of development: cellular Darwinism and the origin of animal form
3. Development: generic to genetic
4. Periodization
5. Body regions, their boundaries and complexity
6. Differentiation and patterning
7. Size factors
8. Axes and symmetries
9. Segments
10. Evo-devo perspectives on homology
Summary and conclusions
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Palaeontology [RBX], Developmental biology [PSC], Evolution [PSAJ]