Biologists discover a gene critical to development of columbines’ iconic spurs – Mirage News

Once in a while, over the history of life, a new trait evolves that leads to an explosion of diversity in a group of organisms. Take wings, for instance. Every group of animals that evolved them has spun off into a host of different species – birds, bats, insects and pterosaurs. Scientists call these “key innovations.”
Understanding the development of key innovations is critical to understanding the evolution of the amazing array of organisms on Earth. Most of these happened deep in the distant…

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