%0 Journal Article %T There's something afoot in the evolution of ontogenies %A Christian Klingenberg %J BMC Evolutionary Biology %D 2010 %I BioMed Central %R 10.1186/1471-2148-10-221 %X The interplay between selective forces and the developmental processes that produce selectable variation is the focus of much attention in evolutionary biology. In a new article, Adams and Nistri [1] pursue this line of investigation by examining the evolution of growth processes in the foot of European cave salamanders. Foot morphology is particularly important in this group of salamanders because the degree of webbing between the toes has been related to their ability to cling to rocks or other substrates. Adams and Nistri use the methods of geometric morphometrics to quantify foot shape in general and to derive a measure of the degree of webbing of the feet.For the clade of salamanders included in the study, an isometric growth trajectory, where the degree of webbing of the foot is constant over ontogeny, appears to be the ancestral condition [1]. There were at least two evolutionary changes of allometry: one lineage evolved an allometric growth pattern, where the degree of foot webbing increases with size, and a species in this lineage later reverted to an isometric mode of growth. Adams and Nistri [1] interpret the switch to allometric growth as a possible adaptation for climbing. Moreover, the ontogenetic trajectories of the different species resulted in a clear convergence from different juvenile foot morphologies toward a shared adult morphology with extensive webbing. This convergence suggests an adaptive explanation, where the common morphology corresponds to a functional optimum [1]. Overall, there appears to be a considerable degree of ontogenetic plasticity that provides opportunities for adaptive evolution.This paper is one of a growing trend for studies at the interface of evolution and development to use morphometric methods to quantify shape [2]. Allometry and its role in evolution have long been recognized as factors that potentially can influence evolutionary processes [3-5]. In recent years, a variety of studies have provided evidence that this i %U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/10/221