Dollo’s Law

Dollo’s law, biological principle, formulated about 1890 by Louis Dollo, a French-born Belgian paleontologist, that evolution is not reversible; i.e., structures or functions discarded during the course of evolution do not reappear in a given line of organisms. The hypothesis was first advanced by a historian, Edgar Quinet.

Dollo’s law has since been refuted by evidence that evolutionary specialization can be undone. For instance, reversible evolution has been observed on a relatively short evolutionary timescale in the peppered moth (Biston betularia). In the 19th century a dark morph of the moth emerged in response to air pollution during the Industrial Revolution and became the dominant colour morph, almost completely replacing the light-coloured form. By the late 20th century, however, the light morph was on the rise again, its increase coincident with the decline of air pollution in England.