![]() It is important, thus, to understand how novel complex traits evolve. The speed of evolution of novel complex traits is likely to depend greatly on which of these two mechanisms underlies their origin. In the last two decades we have learned that novel traits appear to be built using old genes wired in novel ways, but it is still a mystery whether these novel traits evolve when genes are rewired de novo, one at a time, into new developmental networks, or whether clusters of pre-wired genes are co-opted into the development of the new trait. The way that most of these and other adaptations first evolved, however, is still largely unknown. Insects have evolved wings and flight, which allowed them to better disperse, beetles have grown horns to fight over females, and moths and butterflies have decorated their wings with bright circles of colored scales to scare off predators. ![]() ![]() Throughout their evolutionary history, organisms have evolved numerous complex morphological, physiological, and behavioral adaptations to increase their chances of survival and reproduction. “If we take modularity at all seriously, then any attempt to use developmental mechanisms as phylogenetic tools is doomed: how could one hope to distinguish between bona fide conservation (a stable history between mechanism character) and re-use or (worse yet) re-invention?”-von Dassow and Munro, 1999
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