Evolution is not a one-way road towards complexity
Friday, October 18, 2013 - 10:00
in Biology & Nature
There are still a lot of unanswered questions about mollusks, e.g. snails, slugs and mussels. The research group of Andreas Wanninger, Head of the Department of Integrative Zoology of the University of Vienna, took a detailed look at the development of cryptic worms. The larvae of the wirenia argentea hold a much more complex muscular architecture than their adults—they remodel during their metamorphosis. That's a clue that the ancestors had a highly complex muscular bodyplan. Their findings are published in the current issue of the scientific journal Current Biology.