Comments on: The ’11 Model Weird Cambrian Organism

By: Icon of evolution knocked from its perch, or, wait…how about “arthropod origins, waters around, muddied?” « microecos

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 20:07:46 +0000

[…] its original description six months ago, the fossil lobopod Diania has become one of the most celebrated fossils of all time, inspiring everything from […]

By: Evolved This Way « BITS – Biology Is The Shhit

Evolved This Way « BITS – Biology Is The Shhit — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 23:54:46 +0000

[…] Also, this. […]

By: Jennifer Frazer

Jennifer Frazer — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 22:05:27 +0000

Spoken like a true Amherst alum. : ) Personally, I'd be much more inclined to give it credence had this all be hypothesized for the ocean, where gametes mingle like cocktail party guests. But in this post, I just be repeatin' what othas is sayin'. Don't hate the playa, Ben, hate the game. ; )

By: Ben

Ben — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 21:04:44 +0000

Don’t be hating on Lynn, Jen! She was right about mitochondria. She may not be right about holometabolous insects, but it’s worth thinking about. People may lampoon Williams’ paper with jokes about mayflies and velvet worms getting WAY too drunk, but what about some kind of virally-mediated gene transfer? Very low probability, sure, but million of years and billions of insects make the idea remotely possible, if not super plausible.

For the record, I think that a more plausible explanation for the simplified anatomy of larval holometabolous insects is selection against limbs in some ancestral, burrowing larva. But don’t hate on Lynn!

By: kati

kati — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 02:40:47 +0000

um, awesome. and i like “foil-hatted survivalists” :) :)