Fifty years after Enlow and Brownʹs Comparative histological study of fossil and recent bone tissues (1956–1958): A review of Professor Donald H. Enlowʹs contribution to palaeohistology and comparative histology of bone

Fifty years after the publication of Enlow and Brownʹs seminal paper (1956–1958), this historical analysis of Professor Donald H. Enlowʹs works emphasizes their influence on the evolution of palaeohistology, comparative bone histology, and bone biology in general. Comparative analysis of recent and fossil bone tissues has shown the great variability of bone at the tissue level (histodiversity). Historically, Enlowʹs works have greatly influenced a shift in the reinterpretation of the causes of bone histodiversity, from phylogenetic to more functional (ontogenetic) explanations. This allows us to consider the issue of complex causalities in evolutionary biology.