Meeting Abstract
Compound eyes are quintessential complex traits, comprised of numerous parts that work together to perform exquisite functions. How and how often does such complexity evolve? One approach to this question is to trace the evolutionary histories of separate parts. The compound eyes of Pancrustacea (insects plus crustaceans) are variously comprised of corneas, crystalline cones, corneagenous cells, pigment cells, and receptor cells. These parts are themselves comprised of genetic components. For example, receptor cells express opsin genes, crystalline cones express crystallin proteins, and pigment cells express pigment synthesis genes. While many previous studies of compound eye origins and evolution considered compound eyes as a whole, an increasing database, including better phylogenetic trees, is becoming available to allow evolutionary investigation into parts of compound eyes. I will focus on the question of whether all Pancrustacean compound eyes are homologous. In particular, ostracod compound eyes may be non-homologous because many of their close relatives lack compound eyes. I will illustrate how genetic data from transcriptomes, such as opsin, crystallin, and pigment synthesis genes, can inform the question of compound eye homology.
