VAN DAMME, R.; WILSON, R.S.; Univ. of Antwerp, Belgium; Univ. of Queensland, Australia: Human athletes and the evolution of vertebrate locomotor performance It is generally believed that phenotypic evolution is constrained by the conflicting design demands posed by different performance traits. For instance, speed and endurance capacity cannot be maximised simultaneously, because they rely on […]

BARRETO, Felipe/S*; MCCARTNEY, Michael/A; University of North Carolina, Wilmington; University of North Carolina, Wilmington: Assortative Mating and Genetic Differentiation in a Coral Reef Fish Species Flock Morphologically, species of hamlet fish (Hypoplectrus; Serranidae) can only be differentiated by their bright color patterns. Moreover, they lack allozyme differentiation, and show great similarity in allele frequencies at […]

EDSINGER GONZALES, Eric; VAN DEN BIGGELAAR, Jo; University of Utrecht: The spiralian developmental organizer and the evolution of animal design Disparity in animal design is enigmatic, as the fossil record has failed to produce transitional forms linking the major metazoan clades. Development of the adult body plan in taxa as divergent as cnidarians, chordates and […]

SEAVER, Elaine C.; KANESHIGE, Lori M.; MAKAGON, Maja B.; SCHWAB, Rachel L.; University of Hawaii; University of Hawaii; University of Hawaii; University of Hawaii: The expression of �segmentation� genes in polychaete annelids Historically, annelids and arthropods were thought to share a common segmented ancestor. Spatio-temporal patterns of gene expression of genes underlying the segmentation process […]

PRIMUS, A.E.; University of Texas, Austin: Regional specification in the early embryo of the brittle star Ophiopholis aculeate A fate map has been constructed for the embryo of O. aculeate. The vegetal pole of the egg is the site of gastrulation and gives rise to larval mesoderm and endoderm. The first cleavage plane bisects the […]

MINSUK, S.B.*; RAFF, E.C.; RAFF, R.A.; Indiana University, Bloomington: Hen’s Teeth and Sea Urchin’s Toes How are developmental processes transformed in evolution? The direct-developing sea urchin Heliocidaris erythrogramma (H.e.) has a radically different larval morphology from that of the indirect-developing H. tuberculata (H.t.) and their common ancestors, reflecting losses, gains, and transformations throughout ontogeny. By […]

SWALLA, B.J.; University of Washington, Seattle: Evolution of the Chordates: Worms or Squirts? The Deuterostomia are a monophyletic group of animals that diverged from the Ecdysozoa and Lophotrochozoa some time before the Cambrian period, as all of the four major clades of deuterostomes are present in the Cambrian fauna. The four major clades of deuterostomes […]

CHIPMAN, A.D.; University of Cambridge, UK: Early development and segmentation in the centipede Strigamia maritima Early development in arthropods encompasses the crucial stages wherein the body plan is defined and the segmental organization of the body axis is laid out. However, these crucial stages have only been studied in a limited range of arthropods, leaving […]

MATUS, D.Q.; HALANYCH, K.M.; MARTINDALE, M.Q.; Univ. of Hawaii at Manoa; Auburn University; Univ. of Hawaii at Manoa: Axial Patterning in Chaetognaths: An Evo-Devo Look at an Enigmatic Phylum We are interested in the evolution of axial patterning (anterior-posterior & dorsoventral) and body plan formation throughout the Metazoa. We have used PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) […]

CARR, T. D.; University of Toronto: The limits of inferring sequence heterochrony in fossil species: integration of ontogeny and phylogeny in tyrannosaurs In neontology, sequence heterochrony advanced the study of intrinsic evolutionary processes by recognizing that the order of growth events is unique to each species. The methods of sequence heterochrony can be applied to […]