Digest: Ecology and signal structure drive the evolution of synchronous displays in fiddler crabs.

Behaviors are often influenced by both ecology and genetics. Perez et al. tested whether display patterns and the ecology of different species of fiddler crabs influence synchronous waving and whether this a phylogenetic phenomenon.

Digest: Fossils, evolutionary models, and diatoms.

Adaptation to new environments by organisms has been and is of much interest in scientific research. Does the diatom lineage Stephanodiscus niagarae/yellowstonensis follow models compatible with adaptation to a new environment? Voje (2019) shows that in this lineage, none of the current models tested-decelerated evolution, Ornstein-Uhlenbeck, and random walk-fully explained how multiple traits-valve diameter, the number of costae, and spines per valve-evolved. More accurate models are needed to understand the evolutionary history of these diatoms.

Kin recognition and co-operative foraging in Drosophila melanogaster larvae.

A long-standing goal for biologists and social scientists is to understand the factors that lead to the evolution and maintenance of co-operative behaviour between conspecifics. To that end, the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, is becoming an increasingly popular model species to study sociality; however, most of the research to date has focused on adult behaviours. In this study, we set out to examine group-feeding behaviour by larvae and to determine whether the degree of relatedness between individuals mediates the expression co-operation.