Recapitulation theory

Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny, also called the biogenetic law or the theory of recapitulation, is a hypothesis in biology first espoused in 1866 by the German zoologist Ernst Haeckel, a contemporary of Charles Darwin, which has been discredited in its absolute form, although recognised as being partly accurate. In biology, ontogeny is the embryonal development process of a certain species, and phylogeny a species' evolutionary history. Observers have noted various connections between phylogeny and ontogeny, explained them with evolutionary theory and taken them as supporting evidence for that theory.

External links

• Haeckel, E. 1899. Riddle of the Universe at the Close of the Nineteenth Century. Cited at http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/haeckel.html.
• Division of Biology and Medicine, Brown University, Evolution and Development I: Size and shape, http://biomed.brown.edu/Courses/BIO48/30.S&S.HTML
• Rebecca Irwin, Ontogeny and Phylogeny, http://www.utm.edu/~rirwin/391OntogPhylog.htm
• Stephen Jay Gould, Ontogeny and Phylogeny, Cambridge Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1977 ISBN 0-674-63941-3
• Richardson, M., et al., 1997. There is no highly conserved stage in the vertebrates: implications for current theories of evolution and development. Anatomy and Embryology 196(2):91-106, 1997.
• Grigg, R., 1996. Ernst Haeckel: evangelist for evolution and apostle of deceit, Creation 18(2):33?36.

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