Article
Geology
Morten Lunde Nielsen, Mirinae Lee, Hong Chin Ng, Jeremy C. Rushton, Katharine R. Hendry, Ji-Hoon Kihm, Arne T. Nielsen, Tae-Yoon S. Park, Jakob Vinther, Philip R. Wilby
Summary: The correct interpretation of soft-bodied fossils relies on a thorough understanding of their taphonomy. This study investigates the mineral replacements in panarthropod fossils from the Sirius Passet Lagerstatte and reveals the potential impacts of deeper burial and metamorphism on fossil preservation. The study provides critical context for interpreting the Sirius Passet biota and identifies late-stage overprints in other biotas.
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Arif Shukralla, Robert Carton, Katherine A. Benson, Hany El Naggar, Austin Lacey, Gianpiero Cavalleri, Norman Delanty
Summary: This study evaluated the quality of reporting of whole-exome sequencing (WES) in the epilepsy literature. The findings showed heterogeneous reporting quality with poor reporting of certain aspects. Journal type and impact factor were predictors of reporting quality. Reporting bias was identified and the need for formal structural guidelines, similar to the CONSORT guidelines used in clinical trials reporting, was highlighted.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF MEDICAL GENETICS PART A
(2022)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Richard J. Howard, Mattia Giacomelli, Jesus Lozano-Fernandez, Gregory D. Edgecombe, James F. Fleming, Reinhardt M. Kristensen, Xiaoya Ma, Jorgen Olesen, Martin V. Sorensen, Philip F. Thomsen, Matthew A. Wills, Philip C. J. Donoghue, Davide Pisani
Summary: This study estimates the evolutionary time-tree for Ecdysozoans using improved fossil calibrations. The results suggest that Scalidophora is the sister group to Nematoida + Panarthropoda and that the divergence of Ecdysozoa occurred at least 23 myr before the first potential ecdysozoan trace fossils.
JOURNAL OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Kevin J. Peterson, Alan Beavan, Peter J. Chabot, Mark A. McPeek, Davide Pisani, Bastian Fromm, Oleg Simakov
Summary: WGDs do not result in the creation of miRNA novelty, nor do WGDs correlate to increases in complexity. Instead, it is the number of miRNA seed sequences in the genome itself that not only better correlate to instances in complexification, but also mechanistically explain why complexity increases when new miRNA families are established.
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Chenyang Cai, Erik Tihelka, Mattia Giacomelli, John F. Lawrence, Robin Kundrata, Shuhei Yamamoto, Margaret K. Thayer, Alfred F. Newton, Richard A. B. Leschen, Matthew L. Gimmel, Liang Lu, Michael S. Engel, Patrice Bouchard, Diying Huang, Davide Pisani, Philip C. J. Donoghue
Summary: Beetles are the most biodiverse animal order, and this study uses phylogenomic techniques to propose new classification changes and analyze the origin and divergence time of beetles, finding differences from previous hypotheses.
ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE
(2022)
Review
Ecology
Daniel B. Mills, Richard A. Boyle, Stuart J. Daines, Erik A. Sperling, Davide Pisani, Ip C. J. Donoghu, Timothy M. Lenton
Summary: The origin of mitochondria and the oxygenation of Earth have been found to be decoupled by recent research. The authors review the literature and conclude that eukaryogenesis and the rise of oxygen were separate events, and that obligate aerobiosis in eukaryotes only became widespread in the past 1 billion years.
NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2022)
Editorial Material
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Davide Pisani, Maria Eleonora Rossi, Ferdinand Marletaz, Roberto Feuda
Summary: Phylogenetic studies have traditionally placed the simple Xenoacoelomorph worms as the sister group of all other animals with bilateral body symmetry. A new study suggests that misidentification of orthologous genes might have contributed to this placement.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Mattia Giacomelli, Maria Eleonora Rossi, Jesus Lozano-Fernandez, Roberto Feuda, Davide Pisani
Summary: Genomic data has helped in the understanding of the Tree of Life, but certain nodes remain unresolved. By using simulated datasets, this study found that recoding amino acid data can improve the accuracy of phylogenetic inference. The results suggest that the placement of comb jellies as sister to all other animals in phylogenies inferred from amino acid sequences is likely a tree reconstruction artifact.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ksenia Juravel, Luis Porras, Sebastian Hoehna, Davide Pisani, Gert Woerheide
Summary: An accurate understanding of the evolution and ecology of animals relies on an accurate phylogeny. However, there are still unresolved nodes in the animal tree, including the root of animals, the root of Bilateria, and the monophyly of Deuterostomia. In this study, we utilized newly assembled genome gene content and morphological datasets to investigate these difficult nodes. Our results support the idea that sponges are the sister group of all other animals, Xenacoelomorpha is the sister group of other Bilateria, and provide tentative support for the monophyly of Deuterostomia.
Article
Paleontology
Harry O. Berks, Morten Lunde Nielsen, Joseph Flannery-Sutherland, Arne Thorshoj Nielsen, Tae-Yoon S. Park, Jakob Vinther
Summary: This article describes a new non-trilobite arthropod with unique morphological features, providing important insights into the origin and evolution of arthropods.
PAPERS IN PALAEONTOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Paleontology
Romain Sabroux, Gregory D. Edgecombe, Davide Pisani, Russell J. Garwood
Summary: The author reexamined three Middle Jurassic sea spider species from La Voulte-sur-Rhone using X-ray microtomography and reflectance transformation imaging, and reclassified their taxonomic affiliations. They found that Palaeopycnogonides gracilis belongs to the new family Palaeopycnogonididae, Colossopantopodus boissinensis belongs to the extant family Colossendeinae, and Palaeoendeis elmii has affinities with Endeidae. The impact of these new taxonomic assignments on the use of Jurassic sea spiders as fossil calibrations is discussed.
PAPERS IN PALAEONTOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Paleontology
Yang Zhao, Luke A. Parry, Jakob Vinther, Frances S. Dunn, Yu-Jing Li, Fan Wei, Xian-Guang Hou, Pei-Yun Cong
Summary: This study redescribes Conicula striata from the Chengjiang biota in south China, showing that it possessed characteristics of both anthozoans and medusozoan polyps. It is classified as a stem-group medusozoan, suggesting that the diversity of medusozoans derived from an ancestor resembling anemones.
Article
Biology
Ruolin Wu, Davide Pisani, Philip C. J. Donoghue
Summary: Panarthropoda, including Onychophora, Tardigrada, and Euarthropoda, is a clade with the majority of animal biodiversity. The relationships among these phyla are disputable, and resolving them is essential to understanding the evolutionary assembly of panarthropod bodyplans. Molecular phylogenetic analyses generally support the monophyly of Onychophora and Euarthropoda, excluding Tardigrada (Lobopodia hypothesis). However, morphological data analyses can also be interpreted to support the monophyly of Tardigrada and Euarthropoda, excluding Onychophora (Tactopoda hypothesis). Additionally, there is support for a clade of Onychophora and Tardigrada that excludes Euarthropoda (Protarthropoda hypothesis). Our study shows that morphological datasets cannot statistically distinguish between the Lobopodia, Tactopoda, and Protarthropoda hypotheses, calling into question the accuracy of morphology-based phylogenies and evolutionary hypotheses of Panarthropoda, including fossil species.
Article
Entomology
Erik Tihelka, Manfred A. Jaech, Robin Kundrata, Yan-Da Li, Michael S. Engel, Jesus Lozano-Fernandez, Diying Huang, Chenyang Cai
Summary: Dryopoidea is a moderately diverse superfamily of beetles, and its position within basal Polyphaga has been difficult to determine. Mastigocoleidae is a new family of Mesozoic dryopoids represented by fossils from different locations, indicating their early-diverging status within Dryopoidea. Integrating molecular and morphological analyses, Mastigocoleidae is closely related to Lutrochidae and Dryopidae.
INSECT SYSTEMATICS AND DIVERSITY
(2022)
