Dear Salty,
In your essay on Ontogeny and Phylogeny you mention the lack of swim bladders in Darters and state that a Darwinian interpretation insists on a gradual loss of the bladder. This is not true for a neo darwinian interpretation however. Developmental genetics shows that only a very few mutations may be sufficient to cause the loss of a specific organ with no gradual transition required. A recent paper in Nature showed evidence that Stick insects have lost and regained wings several times in the course of their evolution. Has there been any genetic work done to look for genes related to swim bladder development in Darters?
MICHAEL F. WHITING, SVEN BRADLER & TAYLOR MAXWELL
Loss and recovery of wings in stick insects
Nature 421, 264 - 267 (2003)
™ Version 4.2
