Many researchers have questioned the ability of biota to adapt to rapid anthropogenic
environmental shifts. Here, we synthesize emerging genomic evidence for rapid insect …

Recent biological analyses suggest that reductions in dispersal ability have been key drivers
of diversification across numerous lineages. We synthesise emerging data to highlight …

Understanding the history and philosophy of biological systematics (phylogenetics,
taxonomy and classification of living things) is key to successful practice of the discipline. In …

Background The re-evolution of complex characters is generally considered impossible, yet,
studies of recent years have provided several examples of phenotypic reversals shown to …

Over the course of evolution, organism size has diversified markedly. Changes in size are
thought to have occurred because of developmental, morphological and/or ecological …

Kundrata, R. & Bocak, L.(2011). The phylogeny and limits of Elateridae (Insecta,
Coleoptera): is there a common tendency of click beetles to soft‐bodiedness and neoteny …

When parsimony ancestral character reconstruction is ambiguous, it is often resolved in
favour of the more complex character state. Hence, secondary loss (secondary “absence”) of …

Bioluminescence has been hypothesized as aposematic signalling, intersexual
communication and a predatory strategy, but origins and relationships among …

Stick and leaf insects (Phasmatodea) are large terrestrial herbivorous arthropods known for
masquerading as plant parts such as bark, twigs and leaves. Their evolutionary history is …

Two fundamental life cycle types are recognized among hydrozoan cnidarians, the benthic
(generally colonial) polyp stage either producing pelagic sexual medusae or directly …