Darwin’s finches are once again making scientists rethink evolutionary history. A genetic analysis of the finches reveals three new species. And the birds’ most iconic adaptation, beak shape, is largely controlled by a single gene, researchers report February 11 in Nature. That gene is also known to shape faces in mammals, including humans.
The analysis “is rewriting the taxonomy of these birds, and that’s a pretty big deal,” says Scott Edwards, an evolutionary biologist at Harvard University who was not involved in the work. “These birds are the epicenter of evolutionary theory.”