Evolutionary Biology News

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"Resurrected: The Bird that Evolved Twice"

The flightless Aldabra rail, a species that went extinct over 130,000 years ago, reappeared through iterative evolution after the atoll it inhabited resurfaced. This process involved the white-throated rail recolonizing the atoll and evolving to become flightless once again, making it the only living flightless bird in the Indian Ocean. This remarkable case of iterative evolution demonstrates the species' ability to evolve twice, essentially rising from the dead and regaining its flightless traits.

1 year ago•Source: Livescience.com

"Speculative Theory: Insect Wings Evolved from Gills"

evolutionary-biology

3.145 min•2 years ago

"Speculative Theory: Insect Wings Evolved from Gills"

A team of researchers has proposed a wild hypothesis suggesting that insect wings may have evolved from gills, based on the analysis of prehistoric fossils of flying insects from 300 million years ago. The discovery implies that some of the first winged insects were aquatic or semi-aquatic as larvae, challenging the traditional assumption that their ancestors were terrestrial. The study provides support for the idea that wings evolved from precursors of ancestral gills, but more evidence is needed to confirm this hypothesis, which is still in its early stages.

via ScienceAlert