Developmental processes underlying the evolution of a derived foot morphology in salamanders.

ABSTRACT: Interdigital webbing has evolved repeatedly in tropical salamanders (bolitoglossines). This derived foot morphology is only one of many homoplastic traits in this diverse amphibian clade. Indeed, few if any morphological traits sort lineages within this clade. We investigate the processes underlying the homoplastic evolution of morphological characters in these salamanders by analyzing selective and developmental processes that generate interdigital webbing. We show that a pedomorphic developmental change generates the new foot morphology and that pedomorphosis affects a number of morphological traits, thus creating a developmental correlation among them. This correlation among traits is maintained across most species, thus facilitating the repeated evolution of traits. Although we find ev

SUBMITTER: Jaekel M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2154449 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature