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Evolution of fish to tetrapods. The basic body plan has been phylogenetically constrained. Most terrestrial vertebrates have a body plan that consist of four limbs. The phylogenetic inertia hypothesis suggests that this body plan is observed, not because it happens to be optimal, but because tetrapods are derived from a clade of fishes (Sarcopterygii) which also have four limbs.
There is some doubt as to whether the lepospondyls form a phylogenetic unit at all, or is a wastebin taxon containing the padamorphic forms and tadpoles of other labyrinthodonts, notably the reptile-like amphibians, or even very small primitive amniotes with reduced skulls.
Biological constraints are factors which make populations resistant to evolutionary change. One proposed definition of constraint is "A property of a trait that, although possibly adaptive in the environment in which it originally evolved, acts to place limits on the production of new phenotypic variants."
Each is a member of one of three monophylitic clades. All tunicate larvae have the standard chordate features, including long, tadpole-like tails. Their larva also have rudimentary brains, light sensors and tilt sensors. [28] The smallest of the three groups of tunicates is the Appendicularia. They retain tadpole-like shapes and active swimming ...
Phylogenetic bracketing is a method of inference used in biological sciences. It is used to infer the likelihood of unknown traits in organisms based on their position in a phylogenetic tree. One of the main applications of phylogenetic bracketing is on extinct organisms, known only from fossils, going back to the last universal common ancestor ...
A few species from other phyla; the nemertean pilidium larva, the larva of the phoronid species Phoronopsis harmeri and the acorn worm larva Schizocardium californicum, do not depend on Hox genes in their larval development either, but need them during metamorphosis to reach their adult form.
A phylogenetic tree, phylogeny or evolutionary tree is a graphical representation which shows the evolutionary history between a set of species or taxa during a specific time. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] In other words, it is a branching diagram or a tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological species or other entities based upon ...
The embryos of most taxa develop either directly to form juveniles (like the adult but smaller) or to form planuliform larvae. The planuliform larva stage may be short-lived and lecithotrophic ("yolky") before becoming a juvenile, [38] or may be planktotrophic, swimming for some time and eating prey larger than microscopic particles. [33]