Editorial to the Special Issue (Virtual Issue) 2019/2020 Recent Advances in Chondrocranium Research

Vertebrate Zoology

article

Ingmar Werneburg¹ 

[1] Senckenberg;Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen

关键词: editorial;    special issue;    virtual issue;    recent advances in Chrondrocranium research;   

DOI  :  10.26049/VZ-69-70-Special-Issue

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Pensoft

【 摘 要 】

In early May 1790, the famous poet and natural scientistJohann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) discovered adecomposed goat skull at the Jewish cemetery in Venice.He interpreted the separate skull elements as segmentsthat continue the homonomy of the bones in the vertebralcolumn (Goethe, 1824; Peyer, 1950). Goethe understoodthe skull as the “crown” of the body, similarly to the fower of a plant. The plant was indeed the subject to which themajority of his research was dedicated (Goethe, 1790).He envisioned the involvement of holistic principles (i.e.,‘Platonic ideas’) in the organization and formation of allorganisms in nature (Breidbach, 2006; Buchwald, 1960;Levit & Meister, 2006). Generations of vertebrate comparative anatomists have discussed the value, originality,and shortcomings of his idea. Nowadays, our understanding of skull development is so complex that the principles which Goethe recognized can be interpreted with afresh mind (Ziemke, 2015). Hox gene expression early indevelopment, for example, patterns the postotic regionof the head in the same way it does the vertebral column(Alexander et al., 2009). Secondary segmentations appear, formed by spatial barriers, such as the eyes and earcapsules, and by the visceral arches (Couly et al., 2002;Ziermann et al., 2018). The posterior part of the braincaseis actually formed by fused vertebrae (Britz & Johnson,2010; Gegenbaur, 1871; Mitgutsch, 2003; Werneburget al., 2013).

【 授权许可】

CC BY