Mastodawn

🔍 Why it matters: Xiphosurids (horseshoe crabs) are often called “living fossils” for their apparent #morphological #conservatism. But early forms like 𝘗𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘶𝘴 had #extreme features—hypertrophied genal spines and reduced thoracetrons—previously hypothesized as #adaptations to non-marine habitats. #LivingFossils

J of Systematics and Evolution Mar 24

🪸#ClimateChange has created a conservation crisis for #coral #reef #ecosystems.
🔍Zhang et al. use an integrative #phylogenetic and #morphological approach to provide a #taxonomic basis for future #conservation strategies.
🔗https://doi.org/10.1111/jse.70062
@WileyEcology

grimmiges Mar 10

A major #update to my #collection of #morphological #matrices worthy to infer #networks:
a bunch of matrices we generated and reanalysed for a paper by S. Renner, D. Sokoloff, and me dealing with ancestors, hard polytomies and seed plant evolution; depicted not as the usual cladograms (where ancestor-descendant pairs must trigger unsolvable hard trichotomies) but as a "Romerogram" (or spindle graph) that shows #dichotomy as well as #buddingEvolution, i.e., #phylogeny

https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.7067369

J of Systematics and Evolution Jan 16

Today's #maize bears little resemblance to its teosinte #ancestor. In this #JSE review, Yu et al. explore the #morphological and molecular #development and domestication of this agriculturally and economically valuable #crop.
https://doi.org/10.1111/jse.70035
@WileyEcology
#AgTech #CropSci #botany

J of Systematics and Evolution Nov 17

This #DeepLearning model integrates #morphological and #molecular data for species identification in the Fabaceae, illustrating the value of DL for species identification and barcode evaluation in #plant #systematics.

🖥️ https://doi.org/10.1111/jse.70021

@WileyEcology
#JSE #DataScience

J of Systematics and Evolution Nov 7

🖥️ https://doi.org/10.1111/jse.70021

@WileyEcology
#JSE #DataScience #botany

J of Systematics and Evolution Oct 26

Trichosporeae is the most #species-rich, systemically complex, and #morphologically diverse tribe in the Old World Gesneriaceae. Liu et al. report 5 new genera based on molecular #phylogenetic and #morphological evidence.

💐https://doi.org/10.1111/jse.70022

@WileyEcolEvol
#systematics #botany #evolution

J of Systematics and Evolution Oct 17

So you think you know your ctenophores?
Think again!

Bezio et al. describe a new family of benthic ctenophores, based on #morphological and #genetic data. Read their findings in a new #OpenAccess paper in #JSE!

🪼 https://doi.org/10.1111/jse.70023

@WileyEcolEvol
#systematics #jelly

J of Systematics and Evolution Oct 9, 2025

Using an integrative approach combining #molecular, cytogenetic, #phylogenetic, and #morphological #data, Le-Le He and Bao-Zhen Hua reveal generic paraphyly and #chromosome #evolution in Bittacidae.

🔎 https://doi.org/10.1111/jse.70019

@WileyEcolEvol
#JSE #insect #scorpionfly