Russian scientists Alexander Martynov from the Zoological Museum of Moscow State University and Tatyana Korshunova from the Institute of Developmental Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences have proposed a new classification of living organisms. We are talking about the fact that ontogenesis – that is, the life cycle – is taken into account when describing each organism. Related work of scientists published “Special Volumes of the Society for Systematics” in Cambridge University’s well-known book series.
As Martynov points out, there is such a thing as the “phylotype period” in which embryos of completely different animals show a high level of similarity. For example, a bird, a frog, and a human all have a stage of development where they all look like a fish. This suggests that “all three animal groups had a common fish-like ancestor,” the expert said.
Scientists have realized that ontogenetic conservatism and its connection with ancestral organization are confirmed by modern molecular methods.
Previous studies have shown that invertebrates have the same conserved stages (only the common ancestor differed). According to Martynov and Korshunova, the same approach could at least be extended to all multicellular organisms.
According to them, the classification of organisms should take into account not only genetic, but also epigenetic factors.
Scientists present a description of an individual organism or group in the form of a formula that resembles the formula of a chemical compound, but also maintains continuity with conventional nomenclature. At the same time, the traditional binary name (for example, Homo sapiens) becomes the core of the new conditional notation.
As the authors of the study point out, such a formula for multilevel diversity of organisms (Multilevel Diversity of Organisms, MOD) needs to account for both a common evolutionary origin and recent changes in a small group or individual. According to Martynov, such an approach would be a “cure to racism.”
According to the ontogenetic approach, every living organism not only belongs to a “certainly identified group”, but also carries a true multilevel diversity, including characteristics of the most distant and most recent ancestors.
Former psychologists denied the versionthat members of an alien race “look alike” because of racism.