Meeting Abstract

S2-2.3  Jan. 4  On the origins of morphological novelty and its diverse developmental bases: the case of teeth SALAZAR-CIUDAD, I; University of Helsinki isaac.salazar@helsinki.fi

Novelties have been repeatedly claimed to be an unresolved problem in evolutionary theory. Several definitions of novelty exist but most emphasize that novelties imply qualitative changes on the phenotype and not the quantitative gradual changes favored in the neo-Darwinian approach to evolutionary theory. This article discusses how the concept of novelty is used to describe aspects of morphological evolution that are not satisfactorily explained under the modern synthesis. In this article it is proposed that there are not two discrete qualitatively different types of morphological changes but a repertoire of types of morphological change.
It is proposed how the nature of novelty can be understood from the diversity of developmental mechanisms existing in animal development. Specifically it is proposed that animal morphology and its variation can be understood from the spatial patterns produced by a set of basic developmental mechanisms and their combination. Some examples of these kinds of morphologic changes are explained.