This multi-author, six-volume work summarizes our current knowledge on the developmental biology of all major invertebrate animal phyla. The main aspects of cleavage, embryogenesis, organogenesis and gene expression are discussed in an evolutionary framework. Each chapter presents an in-depth yet concise overview of both classical and recent literature, supplemented by numerous color illustrations and micrographs of a given animal group. The largely taxon-based chapters are supplemented by essays on topical aspects relevant to modern-day EvoDevo research such as regeneration, embryos in the fossil record, homology in the age of genomics and the role of EvoDevo in the context of reconstructing evolutionary and phylogenetic scenarios. A list of open questions at the end of each chapter may serve as a source of inspiration for the next generation of EvoDevo scientists. Evolutionary Developmental Biology of Invertebrates is a must-have for any scientist, teacher or student interested in developmental and evolutionary biology as well as in general invertebrate zoology. This third volume on ecdysozoans is dedicated to the Hexapoda. Despite being the most species-rich animal clade by far, comparatively little developmental data is available for the majority of hexapods, in stark contrast to one of the best-investigated species on Earth, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Accordingly, an entire chapter is dedicated to this well-known and important model species, while the two remaining chapters summarize our current knowledge on early and late development in other hexapods.

This multi-author, six-volume work summarizes our current knowledge on the developmental biology of all major invertebrate animal phyla. The main aspects of cleavage, embryogenesis, organogenesis and gene expression are discussed in an evolutionary framework. Each chapter presents an in-depth yet concise overview of both classical and recent literature, supplemented by numerous color illustrations and micrographs of a given animal group. The largely taxon-based chapters are supplemented by essays on topical aspects relevant to modern-day EvoDevo research such as regeneration, embryos in the fossil record, homology in the age of genomics and the role of EvoDevo in the context of reconstructing evolutionary and phylogenetic scenarios. A list of open questions at the end of each chapter may serve as a source of inspiration for the next generation of EvoDevo scientists. Evolutionary Developmental Biology of Invertebrates is a must-have for any scientist, teacher or student interested in developmental and evolutionary biology as well as in general invertebrate zoology. This third volume on ecdysozoans is dedicated to the Hexapoda. Despite being the most species-rich animal clade by far, comparatively little developmental data is available for the majority of hexapods, in stark contrast to one of the best-investigated species on Earth, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Accordingly, an entire chapter is dedicated to this well-known and important model species, while the two remaining chapters summarize our current knowledge on early and late development in other hexapods.

More than two thirds of all living organisms described to date belong to the phylum Arthropoda. But their diversity, as measured in terms of species number, is also accompanied by an amazing disparity in terms of body form, developmental processes, and adaptations to every inhabitable place on Earth, from the deepest marine abysses to the earth surface and the air. The Arthropoda also include one of the most fashionable and extensively studied of all model organisms, the fruit-fly, whose name is not only linked forever to Mendelian and population genetics, but has more recently come back to centre stage as one of the most important and more extensively investigated models in developmental genetics. This approach has completely changed our appreciation of some of the most characteristic traits of arthropods as are the origin and evolution of segments, their regional and individual specialization, and the origin and evolution of the appendages. At approximately the same time as developmental genetics was eventually turning into the major agent in the birth of evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo), molecular phylogenetics was challenging the traditional views on arthropod phylogeny, including the relationships among the four major groups: insects, crustaceans, myriapods, and chelicerates. In the meantime, palaeontology was revealing an amazing number of extinct forms that on the one side have contributed to a radical revisitation of arthropod phylogeny, but on the other have provided evidence of a previously unexpected disparity of arthropod and arthropod-like forms that often challenge a clear-cut delimitation of the phylum.

This multi-author, six-volume work summarizes our current knowledge on the developmental biology of all major invertebrate animal phyla. The main aspects of cleavage, embryogenesis, organogenesis and gene expression are discussed in an evolutionary framework. Each chapter presents an in-depth yet concise overview of both classical and recent literature, supplemented by numerous color illustrations and micrographs of a given animal group. The largely taxon-based chapters are supplemented by essays on topical aspects relevant to modern-day EvoDevo research such as regeneration, embryos in the fossil record, homology in the age of genomics and the role of EvoDevo in the context of reconstructing evolutionary and phylogenetic scenarios. A list of open questions at the end of each chapter may serve as a source of inspiration for the next generation of EvoDevo scientists. Evolutionary Developmental Biology of Invertebrates is a must-have for any scientist, teacher or student interested in developmental and evolutionary biology as well as in general invertebrate zoology. This chapter is dedicated to the Deuterostomia, comprising the Echinodermata and Hemichordata (usually grouped together as the Ambulacraria) as well as the Cephalochordata and the Tunicata.

This multi-author, six-volume work summarizes our current knowledge on the developmental biology of all major invertebrate animal phyla. The main aspects of cleavage, embryogenesis, organogenesis and gene expression are discussed in an evolutionary framework. Each chapter presents an in-depth yet concise overview of both classical and recent literature, supplemented by numerous color illustrations and micrographs of a given animal group. The largely taxon-based chapters are supplemented by essays on topical aspects relevant to modern-day EvoDevo research such as regeneration, embryos in the fossil record, homology in the age of genomics and the role of EvoDevo in the context of reconstructing evolutionary and phylogenetic scenarios. A list of open questions at the end of each chapter may serve as a source of inspiration for the next generation of EvoDevo scientists. Evolutionary Developmental Biology of Invertebrates is a must-have for any scientist, teacher or student interested in developmental and evolutionary biology as well as in general invertebrate zoology. This volume covers the animals that have a ciliated larva in their lifecycle (often grouped together as the Lophotrochozoa), as well as the Gnathifera and the Gastrotricha. The interrelationships of these taxa are poorly resolved and a broadly accepted, clade-defining autapomorphy has yet to be defined. Spiral cleavage is sometimes assumed to be the ancestral mode of cleavage of this grouping and therefore the clade is referred to as Spiralia by some authors, although others prefer to extend the term Lophotrochozoa to this entire assemblage. Aside from the taxon-based chapters, this volume includes a chapter that highlights similarities and differences in the processes that underlie regeneration and ontogeny, using the Platyhelminthes as a case study.

This multi-author, six-volume work summarizes our current knowledge on the developmental biology of all major invertebrate animal phyla. The main aspects of cleavage, embryogenesis, organogenesis and gene expression are discussed in an evolutionary framework. Each chapter presents an in-depth yet concise overview of both classical and recent literature, supplemented by numerous color illustrations and micrographs of a given animal group. The largely taxon-based chapters are supplemented by essays on topical aspects relevant to modern-day EvoDevo research such as regeneration, embryos in the fossil record, homology in the age of genomics and the role of EvoDevo in the context of reconstructing evolutionary and phylogenetic scenarios. A list of open questions at the end of each chapter may serve as a source of inspiration for the next generation of EvoDevo scientists. Evolutionary Developmental Biology of Invertebrates is a must-have for any scientist, teacher or student interested in developmental and evolutionary biology as well as in general invertebrate zoology. This volume starts off with three chapters that set the stage for the entire work by covering general aspects of EvoDevo research, including its relevance for animal phylogeny, homology issues in the age of developmental genomics, and embryological data in the fossil record. These are followed by taxon-based chapters on the animals that are commonly considered to have branched off the Animal Tree of Life before the evolution of the Bilateria: the Porifera, Placozoa, Cnidaria (with the Myxozoa being treated separately) and Ctenophora. In addition, the Acoelomorpha, Xenoturbellida and Chaetognatha are examined, including their currently hotly debated phylogenetic affinities.

This multi-author, six-volume work summarizes our current knowledge on the developmental biology of all major invertebrate animal phyla. The main aspects of cleavage, embryogenesis, organogenesis and gene expression are discussed in an evolutionary framework. Each chapter presents an in-depth yet concise overview of both classical and recent literature, supplemented by numerous color illustrations and micrographs of a given animal group. The largely taxon-based chapters are supplemented by essays on topical aspects relevant to modern-day EvoDevo research such as regeneration, embryos in the fossil record, homology in the age of genomics and the role of EvoDevo in the context of reconstructing evolutionary and phylogenetic scenarios. A list of open questions at the end of each chapter may serve as a source of inspiration for the next generation of EvoDevo scientists. Evolutionary Developmental Biology of Invertebrates is a must-have for any scientist, teacher or student interested in developmental and evolutionary biology as well as in general invertebrate zoology. This second volume on ecdysozoans covers all animals commonly known as crustaceans. While “Crustacea” is currently not considered a monophylum, it still appears reasonable to combine its representatives in one joint volume due to their numerous shared morphological and developmental characteristics. Because of the huge variation in the amount of available developmental data between the various taxa, only the Dendrobranchiata, Astacida and Cirripedia are treated in individual chapters. The remaining data on crustacean development, usually incomplete and often patchy, is presented in two chapters summarizing early development and larval diversity, thereby also taking into account the data on fossil larval forms.