Andreas Wanninger

TL;DR: The use of revised neuroanatomical terminology in any new descriptions of the anatomy of invertebrate nervous systems will improve the comparability of this organ system and its substructures between the various taxa, and finally even lead to better and more robust homology hypotheses.

TL;DR: Gene expression data indicate that key regulators involved in anterior–posterior patterning lost this function and were co‐opted into the evolution of taxon‐specific novelties in conchiferans, challenging traditional hypotheses that molluscs gradually evolved complex phenotypes from simple, worm‐like animals.

TL;DR: Investigation of muscle development in two chiton species from embryo hatching until 10 days after metamorphosis shows that the “segmented” character of the polyplacophoran shell musculature is a secondary condition, thus contradicting earlier theories that regarded the Poly Placophora as primarily eumetameric (annelid‐like).

TL;DR: Investigating central nervous system (CNS) formation with serotonin and FMRFamide labeling in a representative sipunculan, Phascolosoma agassizii, found that neurogenesis initially follows a segmental pattern similar to that of annelids.

TL;DR: Overall, formation of the lophotrochozoan neuromuscular bodyplan appears as a highly dynamic process on both the ontogenetic and the evolutionary timescales, highlighting the importance of insights into these processes for reconstructing ancestral bodyplan features and phylogenetic relationships.