However, long before the term body plan was coined, its importance was demonstrated in research programs that presaged the field of evo-devo, perhaps most famously (though erroneously) by Ernst Haeckel’s recapitulation theory. Essentially, a body plan is a suite of characters shared by a group of phylogenetically related animals at some point during their development. Bauplan (plural, bauplane) as a term used in biology was first introduced by Joseph Henry Woodger in 1945, and means ground plan or structural plan (Hall 1999 Rieppel 2006 Woodger 1945). The concept of bauplane, or body plans, has played and continues to play a central role in the study of evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo). To this end, I integrate concepts such as the nature of phyla, the Cambrian explosion, constraint, evolvability, and results from recent research on gene regulatory networks with the much older concept of the body plan. My aim in this review is to outline how we have arrived at our modern definition of body plan, the controversies associated with the concept, its role in evo-devo, and how current research is informing us on body plans. This lack of familiarity, as well as former ties between the body plan concept and metaphysical ideology is likely responsible for our underappreciation of the body plan concept in its own right, as well as its role in evo-devo. Despite the importance of the body plan concept in evo-devo, many researchers may not be familiar with the progression of ideas that have led to our current understanding of body plans, and/or current research on the origin and maintenance of body plans. A body plan is a suite of characters shared by a group of phylogenetically related animals at some point during their development.
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