Revisiting Edward D. Cope’s “The Relation of Animal Motion to Animal Evolution” (1878)

George R. McGhee

doi:10.1007/s13752-023-00443-3

Revisiting Edward D. Cope’s “The Relation of Animal Motion to Animal Evolution” (1878)

George R. McGhee

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

In 1878 evolutionary theoretician Edward D. Cope published an eight-page paper filled with prescient ideas that clearly anticipated theoretical evolutionary topics that are actively being debated some 145 years later. An examination of these ideas and their modern counterparts is the primary objective of this essay. A proposal is also made to provide an answer to Cope’s Puzzle concerning the sequences of events involved in the evolution of adaptive animal structures. This article revisits Cope’s “The Relation of Animal Motion to Animal Evolution” (published in The American Naturalist, volume 12, number 1, January 1878, pp. 40–48) for Biological Theory’s “Classics in Biological Theory” collection; Cope’s original paper is available as supplementary material in the online version of this article.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	37-43
Number of pages	7
Journal	Biological Theory
Volume	19
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s13752-023-00443-3
State	Published - Mar 2024
Externally published	Yes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
History and Philosophy of Science

Keywords

Cope’s Puzzle
Developmental bias and plasticity
Edward Drinker Cope
Epigenetics
Extended evolutionary synthesis (EES)
Niche construction and reciprocal causation

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10.1007/s13752-023-00443-3

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title = "Revisiting Edward D. Cope{\textquoteright}s “The Relation of Animal Motion to Animal Evolution” (1878)",

abstract = "In 1878 evolutionary theoretician Edward D. Cope published an eight-page paper filled with prescient ideas that clearly anticipated theoretical evolutionary topics that are actively being debated some 145 years later. An examination of these ideas and their modern counterparts is the primary objective of this essay. A proposal is also made to provide an answer to Cope{\textquoteright}s Puzzle concerning the sequences of events involved in the evolution of adaptive animal structures. This article revisits Cope{\textquoteright}s “The Relation of Animal Motion to Animal Evolution” (published in The American Naturalist, volume 12, number 1, January 1878, pp. 40–48) for Biological Theory{\textquoteright}s “Classics in Biological Theory” collection; Cope{\textquoteright}s original paper is available as supplementary material in the online version of this article.",

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Revisiting Edward D. Cope’s “The Relation of Animal Motion to Animal Evolution” (1878)

Abstract

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Keywords

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