Early Evolution of the Vertebrate Eye - Fossil Evidence

Evolution: Education and Outreach

Volumn 1, Issue 4, 2008, Pages 427-438

  Young, Gavin C ^a  

^a AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

Author keywords

Brain structure; Charles Darwin; Cranial nerves; Eye evolution; Fossils; Intelligent design; Transitional forms; Vertebrates

Indexed keywords

EID: 85011958292     PISSN: 19366426     EISSN: 19366434     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s12052-008-0087-y     Document Type: Article

References (35)

1. Balfour FM. A monograph on the development of elasmobranch fishes. London: Macmillan; 1878.
2. Basden AM, Young GC. A primitive actinopterygian neurocranium from the Early Devonian of southeastern Australia. J Vertebr Paleontology. 2001;21:754-66. doi: 10.1671/0272-4634(2001)021[0754:APANFT]2.0.CO;2.
3. Basden AM, Young GC, Coates MI, Ritchie A. The most primitive osteichthyan braincase? Nature. 2000;403:185-8. doi: 10.1038/35003183.
4. Cole FJ. A history of comparative anatomy from Aristotle to the eighteenth century. London: Macmillan; 1949. (1975 edition, New York: Dover).
5. Darwin C. The origin of species by means of natural selection (6th edition). New York: The Modern Library, Random House; 1859.
6. Dawkins R. The blind watchmaker. London: Penguin; 1991. p. 340.
7. Dawkins R. Climbing mount improbable. New York: Viking; 1996. p. 308.
8. Fortey R. Trilobite! Eyewitness to evolution. London: HarperCollins; 2000. 284 pp, Random House, New York.
9. Gagnier P-Y. Ordovician vertebrates and agnathan phylogeny. Bull Mus Natl Hist Nat Paris. 1995;17:1-37.
10. Gehring WJ. New perspectives on eye development and the evolution of eyes and photoreceptors. J Hered. 2005;96:171-84. doi: 10.1093/jhered/esi027.
11. Goujet D. Les poissons placodermes du Spitsberg. Cahiers de Paléontologie, Section Vertébrés. Paris: CNRS; 1984.
12. Goujet D, Young GC. Placoderm anatomy and phylogeny: new insights. In Arratia G, Wilson M, Cloutier R, editors. Recent advances in the origin and early radiation of vertebrates. Munich: Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil; 2004. pp. 109-126.
13. Gregory TR. The evolution of complex organs. Evol Educ Outreach. 2008;1(4). doi: 10.1007/s12052-008-0076-1.
14. Janvier P. Les yeux des cyclostomes fossils et le probleme de l'origine des myxinoides. Acta Zool. 1975;56:1-9.
15. Janvier P. Les Cephalaspides du Spitsberg. Anatomie, phylogenie et systematique des Osteostraces Siluro-Devoniens. Cahiers de Paléontologie, Section Vertébrés, Paris: CNRS; 1985.
16. Janvier P. Early vertebrates. Oxford: Clarendon; 1996. 393 pp.
17. Janvier P. Vertebrate characters and the Cambrian vertebrates. C R Palevol. 2003;2:523-31. doi: 10.1016/j.crpv.2003.09.002.
18. Land MF, Nilsson DE. Animal eyes. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2002.
19. Long JA, Young GC. Acanthothoracid remains from the early Devonian of New South Wales, including a complete sclerotic capsule and pelvic girdle. Ass Australas Palaeontol Mem. 1988;7:65-80.
20. Motani R, Rothschild BM, Wahl W. Large eyeballs in diving ichthyosaurs. Nature. 1999;402:747. doi: 10.1038/45435.
21. Neal HV. The history of the eye muscles. J Morphol. 1918;30:433-53. doi: 10.1002/jmor.1050300202.
22. Nilsson DE, Pelger S. A pessimistic estimate of the time required for an eye to develop. Proc R Soc Lond. 1994;256:53-8. doi: 10.1098/rspb.1994.0048.
23. Paley W. (1802) Natural Theology; or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity, collected from the Appearances of Nature. 5th edition, printed for R. Faulder, 1803.
24. Stensiö EA. On the head of the macropetalichthyids, with certain remarks on the head of the other arthrodires. Publ Field Museum Nat Hist Geol. 1925;4:87-197.
25. Stensiö EA. The Devonian and Downtonian vertebrates of Spitsbergen. 1. Family Cephalaspidae. Skrifter Svalbard Ishavet. 1927;12:1-391.
26. Stensiö EA. The brain and cranial nerves in fossil, lower craniate vertebrates. Skrifter u. Norsk. Videnskaps Akad. Oslo Mater Naturo Kl. 1963;13:1-120.
27. Shu DG, Luo HL, Conway Morris S, Zhang XL, Hu SX, Chen L, et al. Lower Cambrian vertebrates from south China. Nature. 1999;402:42-6. doi: 10.1038/46965.
28. Shu DG, Conway Morris S, Han J, Zhang ZF, Yasui K, Janvier P, et al. Head and backbone of the Early Cambrian vertebrate Haikouichthys. Nature. 2003;421:526-9. doi: 10.1038/nature01264.
29. White EI. Australian arthrodires. Bull Br Mus (Nat. History) (Geology) 1952;1:249-304.
30. Young GC. New information on the structure and relationships of Buchanosteus (Placodermi, Euarthrodira) from the Early Devonian of New South Wales. Zool J Linn Soc. 1979;66:309-52. doi: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.1979.tb01912.x.
31. Young GC. A new Early Devonian placoderm from New South Wales, Australia, with a discussion of placoderm phylogeny. Palaeontographica. 1980;167A:10-76.
32. Young GC. The relationships of placoderm fishes. Zool J Linn Soc. 1986;88:1-57. doi: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.1986.tb00876.x.
33. Young GC. Number and arrangement of extraocular muscles in primitive gnathostomes: evidence from extinct placoderm fishes. Biol Lett. 2008;4:110-4. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2007.0545.
34. Young GC, Karatajute-Talimaa V, Smith MM. A possible Late Cambrian vertebrate from Australia. Nature. 1996;383:810-2. doi: 10.1038/383810a0.
35. Young GC, Lelievre H, Goujet D. Primitive jaw structure in an articulated brachythoracid arthrodire (placoderm fish; Early Devonian) from southeastern Australia. J Vert Paleontol. 2001;18:261-74.