ReviewCurrent biology : CB2013
Tracing the evolution of avian wing digits.
Review in Current biology : CB, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 38 citations in OpenAlex.
- Evolution of limb and digit identity genes since the tetrapod ancestor.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Changes in Evolutionary Developmental Control Points in the Amniote Limb May Explain Hyperphalangy.Molecular biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Macroevolutionary integration underlies limb modularity in the origin of avian flight.Biology letters · 2025Article
- Article
- Immobilization secondary to cell death of muscle precursors with a dual transcriptional signature contributes to the emu wing skeletal pattern.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Insights into digit evolution from a fate map study of the forearm using Chameleon, a new transgenic chicken line.Development (Cambridge, England) · 2024Article
- Self-organized BMP signaling dynamics underlie the development and evolution of digit segmentation patterns in birds and mammals.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Genetic basis for an evolutionary shift from ancestral preaxial to postaxial limb polarity in non-urodele vertebrates.Current biology : CB · 2021Article
- Selection on Phalanx Development in the Evolution of the Bird Wing.Molecular biology and evolution · 2021Article
- Evidence against tetrapod-wide digit identities and for a limited frame shift in bird wings.Nature communications · 2019Article
- Evolution of the avian digital pattern.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Evolution of antero-posterior patterning of the limb: Insights from the chick.Genesis (New York, N.Y. : 2000) · 2018Review
- Mummified precocial bird wings in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber.Nature communications · 2016Article
- Evolution of the vertebrate skeleton: morphology, embryology, and development.Zoological letters · 2015Review
- Homologies and homeotic transformation of the theropod 'semilunate' carpal.Scientific reports · 2014Article
- New developmental evidence supports a homeotic frameshift of digit identity in the evolution of the bird wing.Frontiers in zoology · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
It is widely accepted that birds are a subgroup of dinosaurs, but there is an apparent conflict: modern birds have been thought to possess only the middle three fingers (digits II-III-IV) of an idealized five-digit tetrapod hand based on embryological data, but their Mesozoic tetanuran dinosaur ancestors are considered to have the first three digits (I-II-III) based on fossil evidence. How could such an evolutionary quirk arise? Various hypotheses have been proposed to resolve this paradox. Adding to the confusion, some recent developmental studies support a I-II-III designation for avian wing digits whereas some recent paleontological data are consistent with a II-III-IV identification of the Mesozoic tetanuran digits. A comprehensive analysis of both paleontological and developmental data suggests that the evolution of the avian wing digits may have been driven by homeotic transformations of digit identity, which are more likely to have occurred in a partial and piecemeal manner. Additionally, recent genetic studies in mouse models showing plausible mechanisms for central digit loss invite consideration of new alternative possibilities (I-II-IV or I-III-IV) for the homologies of avian wing digits. While much progress has been made, some advances point to the complexity of the problem and a final resolution to this ongoing debate demands additional work from both paleontological and developmental perspectives, which will surely yield new insights on mechanisms of evolutionary adaptation.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.