developmental biology (evo-devo) studies the molecular genetics of development. It seeks to explain each step in the creation of an adult organism from an undifferentiated zygote in terms of the control of expression of one gene after another. Further, it relates such patterns of control of development to phylogeny. De Beer to some extent anticipated such late 20th-century science in his 1930 book Embryos and Ancestors, showing that evolution could occur by heterochrony, such as in paedomorphosis, the retention of juvenile features in the adult. De Beer argued that this enabled rapid evolutionary change, too brief to be recorded in the fossil record, and in effect explaining why apparent gaps were likely. Mechanisms Heterochrony can be divided into intraspecific and interspecific types. Intraspecific heterochrony means changes in the rate or timing of development within a species. For example, some individuals of the salamander species Ambystoma talpoideum delay the metamorphosis of the skull. Reilly and colleagues argue we can define these variant individuals as paedotypic (with truncated development relative to the ancestral condition), peratypic (with extended development relative to the ancestral condition), or isotypic (reaching the same ancestral shape, but via a different mechanism). Interspecific heterochrony means differences in the rate or timing of a descendant species relative to its ancestor. This can result in either paedomophosis (truncating the ancestral ontogeny), peramorphosis (extending past the ancestral ontogeny), or isomorphosis (reaching the same ancestral state via a different mechanism). There are three major mechanisms of heterochrony, each of which can change in either of two directions, giving six types of perturbations, which can be combined in various ways. These ultimately result in extended, shifted, or truncated development of a particular process, such as the action of a single toolkit gene, relative to the ancestral condition or to other conspecifics, depending on whether inter- or intraspecific heterochrony is the focus. Identifying which of the six perturbations is occurring is critical in identifying the actual underlying mechanism driving peramorphosis or paedomorphosis. Onset: A developmental process can either begin earlier, pre-displacement, extending its development, or later, post-displacement, truncating it. Offset: A process can either end later, hypermorphosis, extending its development, or earlier, hypomorphosis or progenesis, truncating it. Rate: The rate of a process can accelerate, extending its development, or decelerate (as in neoteny), truncating it. A dramatic illustration of how acceleration can change a body plan is seen in snakes. Where a typical vertebrate like