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Long ago, fish fins evolved into the limbs of land vertebrates and tetrapods. During this transition, some elements of the fin were carried over while new features developed. Lizard limbs, bird wings, and human arms and legs are therefore all evolutionary modifications of the original tetrapod limb.
A comprehensive look at the current state of research on fin and limb evolution and development, this volume addresses a wide range of subjects-including growth, structure, maintenance, function, and regeneration. Divided into sections on evolution, development, and transformations, the book begins with a historical introduction to the study of fins and limbs and goes on to consider the evolution of limbs into wings as well as adaptations associated with specialized modes of life, such as digging and burrowing. Fins into Limbs also discusses occasions when evolution appears to have been reversed-in whales, for example, whose front limbs became flippers when they reverted to the water-as well as situations in which limbs are lost, such as in snakes.
With contributions from world-renowned researchers, Fins into Limbs will be a font for further investigations in the changing field of evolutionary developmental biology.
Introduction
Brian K. Hall
Part I. Evolution
1. Fins and Limbs and Fins into Limbs: The Historical Context, 1840–1940
Peter J. Bowler
2. Skeletal Changes in the Transition from Fins to Limbs
Michael I. Coates and Marcello Ruta
3. A Historical Perspective on the Study of Animal Locomotion with Fins and Limbs
Eliot G. Drucker and Adam P. Summers
4. Fins and Limbs in the Study of Evolutionary Novelties
Gunter P. Wagner and Hans C. E. Larsson
Part II. Development
5. The Development of Fins and Limbs
Mikiko Tanaka and Cheryl Tickle
6. Mechanisms of Chondrogenesis and Osteogenesis in Fins
P. Eckhard Witten and Ann Huysseune
7. Mechanisms of Chondrogenesis and Osteogenesis in Limbs
Scott D. Weatherbee and Lee A. Niswander
8. Apoptosis in Fin and Limb Development
Vanessa Zuzarte-Luís and Juan M. Hurlé
9. Joint Formation
Charles W. Archer, Gary P. Dowthwaite, and Philippa Francis-West
10. Postnatal Growth of Fins and Limbs through Endochondral Ossification
Cornelia E. Farnum
11. Paired Fin Repair and Regeneration
Marie-Andrée Akimenko and Amanda Smith
12. Tetrapod Limb Regeneration
David M. Gardiner and Susan V. Bryant
Part III. Transformation
13. Evolution of the Appendicular Skeleton of Amphibians
Robert L. Carroll and Robert B. Holmes
14. Limb Diversity and Digit Reduction in Reptilian Evolution
Michael D. Shapiro, Neil H. Shubin, and Jason P. Downs
15. Limbs in Mammalian Evolution
P. David Polly
16. Skeletal Adaptations for Flight
Stephen M. Gatesy and Kevin M. Middleton
17. Adaptations for Digging and Burrowing
Nathan J. Kley and Maureen Kearney
18. Aquatic Adaptations in the Limbs of Amniotes
J. G. M. Thewissen and Michael A. Taylor
19. Sesamoids and Ossicles in the Appendicular Skeleton
Matthew K. Vickaryous and Wendy M. Olson
References
Contributors
Index
"In this important synthetic review, Hall and the thirty-seven authorities he has assembled have succeeded in capturing the quantum advances made by functional morphologists, developmental biologists, evolutionary scientists, and vertebrate paleontologists in explaining the origin and diversification of fins and limbs. This review is unparalleled in its depth, scope and scholarship and is indispensable for any student interested in unraveling new complexities hidden in the developing as well as adult fin and limb. The reader will discover important new paths of inquiry; conceptually and technically, this book actually covers more than the title implies and is a must for any seminar course dealing with form, function, and evolution of vertebrates."
- Karel F. Liem, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University
"Variation and selection at the population level are no longer the central unexplored questions in evolution. Today, advances in genetics and development are steadily drawing us closer to an understanding of the origins of the phenotype and the generation of major morphological innovations. One of the cases where work is now well advanced involves finding causal links in the genetics, morphogenesis, and evolutionary transformations of the fish fin and tetrapod limb. This new book shows how much has been accomplished in this exciting field, and how many opportunities remain."
- Keith S. Thomson, professor emeritus, University of Oxford
"Evo-devo – and more importantly, evo-devo-paleo – is the cutting edge of biological and evolutionary science. This collection of empirical and theoretical reviews is timely and necessary, and the choice of authors is excellent. Fins into Limbs is a must-have for anyone with even a passing interest in any one or all of the disciplines of evolution, developmental biology, or paleontology."
- Michael Caldwell, University of Alberta
"Fins into Limbs is an exploration of a longstanding evolutionary puzzle associated with the origin of tetrapods and the vertebrate invasion of land. Brian Hall has assembled a stellar array of contributors from various fields that represent the pieces necessary for a solution. The volume is handsomely executed and also timely. It collects a diverse body of recent research on fins and limbs emerging from evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo), functional morphology, and paleontology, all of which have transformed our conception of what the fin-limb transition looked like [...] Fins into Limbs serves as a necessary reference and a worthy guide to future research on this and other evolutionary transitions. It tells us what we know, what we don't know, and what we'd really like to know. Thus it points us in the direction of which pieces are required to solve the puzzle and reminds us of the pressing need to figure out how they all fit together."
- Alan C. Love, Science
"We are now at a point where the more experimental, mechanistic approaches that have previously been restricted to studies of model organisms must be applied more broadly [...] To this end, in driving a new era of research in skeletal biology, Fins into Limbs is a great success."
- Mark W. Hamrick, Journal of Mammal Evolution
"The book is a fine compilation and essential reading for a broad range of natural scientists, from embryologists to paleontologists, and genticists to philosophers."
- Michael J. Benton, Evolution and Development
