Before the Backbone: Views on the origin of the vertebratesWe cannot catechise our stony ichthyolites, as did the necromantic lady of the Arabian Nights did the coloured fishes of the lake which had once been a city, when she touched their dead bodies with her wand, and they straightaway raised their heads and rephed to her queries. We would have many a question to ask them if we could - questions never to be solved. Hugh Miller, The Old Red Sandstone When I started this book in 1991, the subject of vertebrate origins was fusty and unfashionable. Early drafts for this preface read like an extend ed complaint at the lot of traditional morphologists, cast aside by the march of modern molecular biology. But no longer - this book should reach you at a time of renewed inter est in the origin of the vertebrates, our own particular corner of creation. For although the topic has excited interest for well over a century, molec ular biology has only lately achieved the maturity necessary to test its predictions. As a legitimate field of study, it is fashionable again. |
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adult amphioxus ancestor ancestry animal annelids appear appendage archenteron arthropods ascidians become body brain calcichordate calcite called carpoids cells Chapter character chordates close cluster coelom common compared complex connected cornutes creatures crinoid derived deuterostomes discussed distinct dorsal Drosophila early echinoderms enteropneusts evidence evolution evolved example expression fact Figure fossil function further Garstang genes genetic gill slits head hemichordates Holland homeobox homologous ideas important interpretation Jefferies kind known larva later less living look mesoderm mitrates mouth Nature nerve cord nervous system neural tube notes notochord openings organs origin paired particular pattern pharynx phylogenetic phylogeny plates position posterior present primitive problem Recent reconstruction region relatively scheme seems seen segmentation side similar skeleton solutes species stage stem structures suggests symmetry tadpole larva tail theory tion tissue tunicates ventral vertebrates
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Bibliographic information
| Title | Before the Backbone: Views on the origin of the vertebrates |
| Author | H. Gee |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | Springer Science & Business Media, 2007 |
| ISBN | 0585252726, 9780585252728 |
| Length | 346 pages |
| Subjects | › › › Science / Life Sciences / Biology Science / Life Sciences / Evolution Science / Life Sciences / Zoology / General Science / Paleontology |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |