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Recapitulation Theory

Biology

Recapitulation theory, also called the biogenetic law, is a historical hypothesis, summarized as 'ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny', that the embryonic development of an animal passes through stages resembling the successive adult forms of its evolutionary ancestors.

Facts
Proposed BySourced to the subject's own account
Etienne Serres 1
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Belongs To

Biology, Disciplines
Source Recapitulation Theory (Wikipedia)

Proposed By

Sources
1. Recapitulation Theory (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia
  • Lead section (entity-description)
    The theory of recapitulation, also called the biogenetic law or embryological parallelism, usually summarized as 'ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny', is a historical hypothesis that the development of the embryo of an animal goes through stages resembling successive adult stages in the evolution of the animal's remote ancestors.
  • Lead section (proposed-by)
    It was formulated in the 1820s by Etienne Serres based on the work of Johann Friedrich Meckel, after whom it is also known as the Meckel-Serres law.
  • Belongs To: Biology, Lead, sentence 1
    The theory of recapitulation, also called the biogenetic law or embryological parallelism, usually summarized as "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny", is a historical hypothesis that the development of the embryo of an animal, from fertilization to gestation or hatching (ontogeny), goes through stages resembling or representing successive adult stages in the evolution of the animal's remote ancestors (phylogeny).
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