Genetic independence between traits separated by metamorphosis is widespread but varies with biological function.

Why is metamorphosis so pervasive? Does it facilitate the independent (micro)evolution of quantitative traits in distinct life stages, similarly to how it enables some limbs and organs to develop at specific life stages? We tested this hypothesis by measuring the expression of 6400 genes in 41 inbred lines at larval and adult stages. Only 30% of the genes showed significant genetic correlations between larval and adult expression. By contrast, 46% of the traits showed some level of genetic independence between stages.

The Chalcidoidea bush of life: evolutionary history of a massive radiation of minute wasps.

Chalcidoidea are mostly parasitoid wasps that include as many as 500 000 estimated species. Capturing phylogenetic signal from such a massive radiation can be daunting. Chalcidoidea is an excellent example of a hyperdiverse group that has remained recalcitrant to phylogenetic resolution.

Molecular complexity and gene expression controlling cell turnover during a digestive cycle of carnivorous sponge Lycopodina hypogea.

Lycopodina hypogea is a carnivorous sponge that tolerates laboratory husbandry very well. During a digestion cycle, performed without any digestive cavity, this species undergoes spectacular morphological changes leading to a total regression of long filaments that ensure the capture of prey and their reformation at the end of the cycle. This phenomenon is a unique opportunity to analyze the molecular and cellular determinants that ensure digestion in the sister group of all other metazoans.

Ultra-Conserved Elements and morphology reciprocally illuminate conflicting phylogenetic hypotheses in Chalcididae (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea).

Recent technical advances combined with novel computational approaches have promised the acceleration of our understanding of the tree of life. However, when it comes to hyperdiverse and poorly known groups of invertebrates, studies are still scarce. As published phylogenies will be rarely challenged by future taxonomists, careful attention must be paid to potential analytical bias.

Complete mitogenome data from a European specimen of (Walker, 1859) (Lepidoptera, Pyraloidea, Crambidae, Pyraustinae).

We present an assembly and annotation of the mitogenome of a European specimen of the Adzuki bean borer, (Walker, 1859). The data were obtained by combining WGS data issue of a and a previously published sequence library (Gschloessl et al., 2018).