Metazoa comprises 35–40 phyla that include some 1.3 million described species.
Phylogenetic analyses of metazoan interrelationships have progressed in the past two …

Animals make up only a small fraction of the eukaryotic tree of life, yet, from our vantage
point as members of the animal kingdom, the evolution of the bewildering diversity of animal …

Xenoturbellida and Acoelomorpha are marine worms with contentious ancestry. Both were
originally associated with the flatworms (Platyhelminthes), but molecular data have revised …

Background The morphological peculiarities of turtles have, for a long time, impeded their
accurate placement in the phylogeny of amniotes. Molecular data used to address this major …

SUMMARY microRNAs (miRNAs) are approximately 22‐nucleotide noncoding RNA
regulatory genes that are key players in cellular differentiation and homeostasis. They might …

Xenoturbella and the acoelomorph worms (Xenacoelomorpha) are simple marine animals
with controversial affinities. They have been placed as the sister group of all other bilaterian …

The causal basis of vertebrate complexity has been sought in genome duplication events
(GDEs) that occurred during the emergence of vertebrates, but evidence beyond …

Unravelling the timing of the metazoan radiation is crucial for elucidating the
macroevolutionary processes associated with the Cambrian explosion. Because estimates …

Whole-body regeneration is widespread in the Metazoa, yet little is known about how
underlying molecular mechanisms compare across phyla. Acoels are an enigmatic phylum …

Adult pluripotent stem cell (aPSC) populations underlie whole-body regeneration in many
distantly-related animal lineages, but how the underlying cellular and molecular …