[Epigenetic theory of evolution as a basis for a new evolutionary synthesis]

There are two evolutionary theories in current biology--"modern synthesis" and "epigenetic theory". The first one is based on the assumption of hard correspondence between phenotypes and genotypes. For this reason the theory of modern synthesis is principally incompatible with developmental biology. In contrast, the epigenetic theory considers evolution as a process of environmentally controlled transformation of ontogeny. It is compatible with observed embryological regularities and used as a basis for wider evolutionary synthesis combining both Darwinian and Lamarckian mechanisms. Individual developmental system can generate only a constrained number of morphologic states. This circumstance is a nomogenetic component of the epigenetic theory: the same morphosis simultaneously appears in a number of individuals in response to environmental influence. Since the initial phenotypic change occurs to be not random, a meeting of a female and a male with the same morphosis is an event of sufficiently high probability. The nomogenetic component allows to get over the famous argument of F. Jenkin--a problem that is still difficult to explain in terms of the theory of modern synthesis.