Ontogeny, Phylotypic Periods, Paedomorphosis, and Ontogenetic Systematicsстатья
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Аннотация:The key terms linking ontogeny and evolution are briefly reviewed. It is shownthat their application and usage in the modern biology are often inconsistent andincorrectly understood even within the “evo-devo” field. For instance, the core modernreformulation that ontogeny not merely recapitulates, but produces phylogeny impliesthat ontogeny and phylogeny are closely interconnected. However, the vast modernphylogenetic and taxonomic fields largely omit ontogeny as a central concept. Instead,the common “clade-” and “tree-thinking” prevail, despite on the all achievements ofthe evo-devo. This is because the main conceptual basis of the modern biology isfundamentally ontogeny-free. In another words, in the Haeckel’s pair of “ontogenyand phylogeny,” ontogeny is still just a subsidiary for the evolutionary process (andhence, phylogeny), instead as in reality, its main driving force. The phylotypic periodsis another important term of the evo-devo and represent a modern reformulationof Haeckel’s recapitulations and biogenetic law. However, surprisingly, this one ofthe most important biological evidence, based on the natural ontogenetic grounds,in the phylogenetic field that can be alleged as a “non-evolutionary concept.” Allthese observations clearly imply that a major revision of the main terms which areassociated with the “ontogeny and phylogeny/evolution” field is urgently necessarily.Thus, “ontogenetic” is not just an endless addition to the term “systematics,” butinstead a crucial term, without it neither systematics, nor biology have sense. Toconsistently employ the modern ontogenetic and epigenetic achievements, the conceptof ontogenetic systematics is hereby refined. Ontogenetic systematics is not merely a“research program” but a key biological discipline which consistently links the enormousbiological diversity with underlying fundamental process of ontogeny at both molecular and morphological levels. The paedomorphosis is another widespread ontogenetic-and-evolutionary process that is significantly underestimated or misinterpreted by the current phylogenetics and taxonomy. The term paedomorphosis is refined, as initiallyproposed to link ontogeny with evolution, whereas “neoteny” and “progenesis” areoriginally specific, narrow terms without evolutionary context, and should not be used assynonyms of paedomorphosis. Examples of application of the principles of ontogenetic systematics represented by such disparate animal groups as nudibranch molluscsand ophiuroid echinoderms clearly demonstrate that perseverance of the phylotypicperiods is based not only on the classic examples in vertebrates, but it is a universalphenomenon in all organisms, including disparate animal phyla.