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Updated: Mar 1, 2026

4-Dimensional Imaging of Zebrafish Optic Cup Morphogenesis
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DO IMAGE-FORMING EYES PROMOTE EVOLUTIONARY DIVERSIFICATION?

Alan de Queiroz1

  • 1Department of Environmental, Population and Organismic Biology and University Museum, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, 80309-0334.

Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution
|June 1, 2017
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Image-forming eyes do not significantly increase species richness in most animal groups. While associated with increased activity, the evolution of complex vision does not consistently drive greater diversification.

Keywords:
Adaptive radiationadaptive zonecontingencydiversificationeyeskey innovationsister-group tests

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Comparative Phylogenetics
  • Paleontology

Background:

  • The presence of image-forming eyes is hypothesized to promote evolutionary diversification and species richness.
  • Potential mechanisms include adaptation to new niches and enhanced competitive abilities leading to reduced extinction rates.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To test the hypothesis that image-forming eyes increase net speciation across diverse animal groups.
  • To investigate the relationship between vision, activity levels, and diversification.

Main Methods:

  • Comparative analysis of extant species numbers between 12 groups with image-forming eyes and their sister groups lacking such organs.
  • Examination of phylogenetic relationships and published data on locomotory speed.
  • Analysis of the fossil record for early visual groups and their diversification patterns.

Main Results:

  • No significant association was found between image-forming eyes and species richness, even when considering favorable phylogenetic hypotheses.
  • Increased locomotory speed (activity) was significantly associated with the evolution of image-forming eyes.
  • Limiting analysis to cases with increased activity still revealed no significant link between vision and species richness.

Conclusions:

  • The hypothesis that image-forming eyes directly drive species richness is not supported by this comparative study.
  • Early evolution of vision in metazoans may have saturated ecological niches, limiting subsequent radiations of visual groups.
  • Other factors likely obscure or outweigh the long-term diversification effects of image-forming eyes.