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More recently, however, examples have been reported that break the time limit, suggesting that silent genes
may not be the whole story. In a paper published last year, biologist Gunter Wagner of Yale University
reported some work on the evolutionary history of a group of South American lizards called Bachia. Many of
these have minuscule limbs; some look more like snakes than lizards and a few have completely lost the toes
on their hind limbs. Other species, however, sport up to four toes on their hind legs. The simplest explanation
is that the toed lineages never lost their toes, but Wagner begs to differ. According to his analysis of the Bachia
family tree, the toed species re-evolved toes from toeless ancestors and, what is more, digit loss and gain has
occurred on more than one occasion over tens of millions of years.
So what’s going on? One possibility is that these traits are lost and then simply reappear, in much the same
way that similar structures can independently arise in unrelated species, such as the dorsal fins of sharks and
killer whales. Another more intriguing possibility is that the genetic information needed to make toes somehow
survived for tens or perhaps hundreds of millions of years in the lizards and was reactivated. These atavistic
traits provided an advantage and spread through the population, effectively reversing evolution.
But if silent genes degrade within 6 to million years, how can long-lost traits be reactivated over longer
timescales? The answer may lie in the womb. Early embryos of many species develop ancestral features.
Snake embryos, for example, sprout hind limb buds. Later in development these features disappear thanks to
developmental programs that say ‘lose the leg’. If for any reason this does not happen, the
ancestral feature may not disappear, leading to an atavism.