Tuyển tập các báo cáo nghiên cứu về sinh học được đăng trên tạp chí sinh học Journal of Biology đề tài: Estimating rates and patterns of morphological evolution from phylogenies: lessons in limb lability from Australian Lerista lizards. | Journal of Biology BioMed Central Minireview Estimating rates and patterns of morphological evolution from phylogenies lessons in limb lability from Australian Lerista lizards John J Wiens Address Department of Ecology and Evolution Stony Brook University Stony Brook NY 11794-5245 USA. Email wiensj@ Published 24 February 2009 Journal of Biology 2009 8 19 doi jbiol112 The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at http content 8 2 19 2009 BioMed Central Ltd Abstract Squamates lizards and snakes offer an exciting model system for research on the evolution of body form. A new phylogenetic study in BMC Evolutionary Biology of Australian lizards shows remarkable evolutionary lability in digit numbers among closely related species but also highlights important challenges in this area. A major goal in evolutionary biology is to explain the great phenotypic diversity of life. Why are there organisms that look as varied as octopi redwoods earthworms seagulls centipedes jellyfish and Scarlett Johansson But in many cases understanding major changes in body form is difficult because such dramatic changes have happened only rarely and mostly in the distant past for example the remarkable shell of turtles arose only once and more than 200 million years ago . Enter the squamates lizards and snakes . Within squamates one of the most dramatic changes in body form in animals has occurred from a four-limbed lizard-like body plan to an elongate limbless snake-like one. Although everyone is familiar with snakes a similar transition may have occurred dozens of times and across many different clades 1 2 sometimes among species of the same genus 1 . As a model system for macroevolutionary research squamates offer both natural replication and controls that is repeated changes in body form sometimes among closely related species . Recent studies within squamates have begun to utilize molecular phylogenies to reveal
