Information AboutOntogeny |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT ONTOGENY | |
| developmental biology | |
| SHOPPER'S DELIGHT | |
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The idea that Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny , that is, that the development of an organism exactly mirrors the evolutionary development of the species, is discredited today. However the phenomena of recapitulation, in which a developing organism will for a time show a similar trait or attribute to that of an ancestral species, only to have it disappear at a later stage is well documented. For example, embryos of the baleen whale still develop teeth at certain embryonic stages, only to later disappear. A more general example is the emergence of pharyngeal gill pouches of lower vertebrates in almost all mammalian embryos at early stages of development. (April, 2001) SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS |