Talk:Pedomorphosis

Chordates
On 7 March 2006, 24.61.98.230 wrote:


 * Pedomorphosis is believed by some to be what caused the beginning of the phylum Chordata.

This comment must be substantiated. I am removing it; the user in question may feel free to add it back with an appropriate citation. --Peter Farago 20:41, 3 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Was the user referring to how the ancestral chordate was believed to have been a sexually precocious tunicate larva?--Mr Fink 03:23, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

Definition of Neoteny
The article currently states: "Neoteny, in which somatic (or physical) development is slowed, resulting in a sexually mature juvenile or larval form." The bit about a sexually mature juvenile form is more associated with Progenesis, and results from the increased rate of sexual development, not a slowing or halting of somatic development. The first claim regarding Neoteny is correct, neoteny is indeed the slowing in somatic development, but it does not result in a sexually mature larval form; it results in a mature adult form that retains juvenile characteristics of other organisms, for example Man's relatively rounded cranium, which at full maturity is characteristic of only juvenile primates, not adults.

The bullet about Progenesis is also incorrect: "Progenesis, in which development is halted before full maturity." Progenesis is the increased rate of sexual development in organisms with no change in the rate of somatic development, leading to a sexually mature juvenile or larval form. I noticed the confusion could be due to the mistaken attribution of sexually mature larval forms with Neoteny, as addressed above.

Could someone who's more comfortable with editing the live articles fix these small inaccuracies, please? Thanks in advance, 152.17.54.26 (talk) 03:15, 20 April 2009 (UTC)Student-writing-a-research-paper-on-neoteny