Reconstructing the genomes of bilaterian ancestors is central to our understanding of animal
evolution, where knowledge from ancient and/or slow-evolving bilaterian lineages is critical …

Molluscs are among the most ancient, diverse, and important of all animal taxa. Even so, no
individual mollusc species has emerged as a broadly applied model system in biology. We …

Microplastics (MPs) pollution has wreaked havoc on biodiversity and food safety globally.
The false ingestion of MPs causes harmful effects on organisms, resulting in a decline in …

Approaches to macroevolution require integration of its two fundamental components, ie the
origin and the sorting of variation, in a hierarchical framework. Macroevolution occurs in …

In animals, opsins and cryptochromes are major protein families that transduce light signals
when bound to light-absorbing chromophores. Opsins are involved in various light …

Nature provides a multitude of examples of multifunctional structural materials in which trade-
offs are imposed by conflicting functional requirements. One such example is the …

Hundreds of ocelli are embedded in the dorsal shell plates of certain chitons [1]. These ocelli
each contain a pigment layer, retina, and lens [2], but it is unknown whether they provide …

Background A major goal in evolutionary biology is to understand the processes that shape
the evolutionary trajectory of clades. The repeated and similar large-scale morphological …

The origin of complex biological structures has long been a subject of interest and debate.
Two centuries ago, natural explanations for their occurrence were considered …

Molluscs represent one of ancient and evolutionarily most successful groups of marine
invertebrates, with a tremendous diversity of morphology, behavior, and lifestyle. Molluscs …