This is what happens when you look under rocks in the bushes on holidays. You find something interesting, and then it turns out it's not good news for the endemic snails... More in the latest publication with @lgasiorowski.bsky.social in the journal BioInvasions Records: doi.org/10.3391/bir....

We’re resuming our posts by sharing a preprint from former postdoc and current group leader at the University of Warsaw, Ludwik Gąsiorowski (@lgasiorowski.bsky.social). www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Divergent evolution of the Wnt signaling system in flatworms

Regenerative capacity varies widely across flatworms (Platyhelminthes). Whereas catenulids, microstomids and planarians can regenerate a complete head de novo, other flatworms cannot. This striking di...

biorxiv.org

Probably flatworms are not the first animal group that comes to your mind when you think about coloniality. However, some of them can form colony-like linear chains composed of zooids. Here, we investigate why and how those chains are formed in the genus Stenostomum: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

🚨We are hiring two post-docs in the project focused on comparative stem cell biology in non-model invertebrates! Find more details here: 🖥️ Bioinformatician: tinyurl.com/3df732k3 🔬 Experimentator: tinyurl.com/mvvf24mr And you can check our group here: tinyurl.com/489dx5va

Comparative Invertebrate Zoology - Instytut Biologii Ewolucyjnej

Research topics Our group is focused on understanding the evolutionary basis for the diversity of morphologies and life histories among invertebrates. In particular, we are studying microscopic, free-...

tinyurl.com

To expand our lab cultures with new species of catenulids, we carried out some field sampling, which resulted in a new paper from our lab. It is more focused on taxonomy and diversity than on our usual evo–devo themes, but it was fun to do nonetheless. academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a...

Molecular phylogeny of Catenulida (Platyhelminthes) with special focus on their diversity in Poland

Abstract. Catenulida is a clade of free-living flatworms found abundantly in freshwater habitats across the globe. Despite their ubiquitous distribution, c

academic.oup.com

What happens if your asexual reproduction goes wrong? For instance, you can grow a head instead of a tail. But if you're a flatworm, it's not that bad - as we showed in our newest paper published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: tinyurl.com/4dnp2ffz

Another preprint from our lab. This time, we looked into the diversity of Catenulida in Poland (and some other countries) and traced the evolution of important characters on their phylogeny.

Molecular phylogeny of Catenulida (Platyhelminthes) with special focus on their diversity in Poland

Catenulida is a clade of free-living flatworms found abundantly in freshwater habitats across the globe. Despite their ubiquitous distribution, catenulids remain poorly studied; most of the species ar...

biorxiv.org

While caring for our beloved Stenostomum, we found bizarre, malformed worms that grow heads instead of tails during paratomy. We tested whether this phenotype is heritable (it’s not) and whether fragments with ectopic heads can retain their reversed polarity (they do). Check out our latest preprint!

Spontaneous ectopic head formation enables reversal of the body axis polarity in microscopic flatworms

In most of the animals the antero-posterior axis is specified during early embryogenesis. However, in the organisms that undergo somatic asexual reproduction constant re-establishment of the body axis...

biorxiv.org

🌍 4 year, fully funded PhD in Evolutionary Biology at the University of Basel! 🌿 Explore flatworm speciation in the African Great Lakes! ✔️ Fieldwork in Zambia & Tanzania ✔️ Training in phylogenetics, molecular ecology, evolutionary biology & stable isotope analysis 📅 Deadline: May 31, 2025

It's official - I'm organizing a field taxonomy workshop on freshwater and limno-terrestrial meiofauna! 27 August-11 Sept, in the Lake District. We have 13 experts covering all major taxa, advanced microscopy, DNA taxonomy, sci-com, publishing. RT! Send your best! www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/...

Thank you to everyone who joined us at the University of Warsaw #DOKO event yesterday! It was wonderful to meet so many people keen to learn more about UW, its courses, and our student organisations 🧪🦴🦠🔬

This paper provides now solid evidence that the xenacoelomorph male gonopore is homologous to the bilaterian hindgut. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The xenacoelomorph gonopore is homologous to the bilaterian anus

The bilaterian through gut with an anal opening is a key invention in animals, since it facilitates effective food processing, which allows animals to grow to a larger body size. However, because non-...

biorxiv.org

I’m delighted to share the latest work of PhD student June Ordonez, who is working with me on the formation of the nervous system in #chaetognaths! doi.org/10.1101/2025...

We looked into details of the stem cell system of catenulids. Surprisingly, it was very different from the canonical neoblast-based systems of other flatworms. What does it tell about the evolution of stem cells and regeneration? Check in our latest paper in @naturecomms.bsky.social: bit.ly/3WK2ZzR

Join the "Zoomorphology & Evolution Meeting" at Dep. of Biology, UCPH, 13-19:30, 7 March 2025 Best wishes Katrine Worsaae & Peter Funch

Peter Funch@biofunch.bsky.social · 2y ago

Join Denmark's excellent community of zoomorphologists and evolutionary biologists for a day of stimulating talks, networking, and discussions! Let us know if you will participate and maybe give a talk, on your research or ’cool methods/facilities’ 🔬

Following up on the paper by @eudaldpascual.bsky.social, I checked the Fox genes complement in additional catenulid and macrostomorph species. It turned out that the evolution of Fox complement in flatworms is related to ancestral losses and multiple, independent, lineage-specific expansions.

Evidence for Multiple Independent Expansions of Fox Gene Families Within Flatworms - Journal of Molecular Evolution

Expansion and losses of gene families are important drivers of molecular evolution. A recent survey of Fox genes in flatworms revealed that this superfamily of multifunctional transcription factors, p...

link.springer.com

I posted this some time ago on the abandoned platform, but maybe it’s worth advertising here as well: I’m hiring a post-doc (18 months) for our newly established group at the Institute of Evolutionary Biology in Warsaw. Apply by 15.12.2024. More details here: euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/283654