Re: Florida and fingers

["Jerry D. Harris" <dinogami@hotmail.com>]

> You can find the entire article as Wagner & Gauthier (1999)...VERY 
> intriguing stuff; should have implications for a wide range of paleo and 
> embryological problems.

  I agree that it's a fascinating paper, and yes, has great potential.  
However, the paper neither cites, nor can I think of, any actual 
evolutionary (i.e., not produced by embryological manipulation in the lab) 
examples of the kinds of "frame shifts" he proposes as the mechanism for the 
digital axial move.  We must be careful to note that the frame shift 
mechanism is ideal _in_theory_, but I suspect it'll be awhile longer before 
we see if it works (has worked!) in nature.

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                     Jerry D. Harris
                 Fossil Preparation Lab
          New Mexico Museum of Natural History
                   1801 Mountain Rd NW
               Albuquerque  NM  87104-1375
                 Phone:  (505) 841-2809
                  Fax: ; (505) 841-2808
           >>>>> dinogami@hotmail.com <<<<<

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