Re: Horns, Antlers, Tusks, and the way evolution works

Bryant (mycol1@unm.edu)
6 Sep 1996 13:44:14 -0600

In article <lpiotrow.422.32302F64@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>,
Len Piotrowski <lpiotrow@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> wrote:
>
>If there is no known physical trace for an "adaptive trait" indentifiable in
>the record, and no known fitness value for this same "trait" now, is it still
>a functional adaptation?

If there's no opportunity for comparative analysis (say, from the fossil
record) and no obvious correlates to current fitness effects, I would
probably not identify it as an adaptation.

>--Lenny__

Bryant