My new paper addresses the evolution of hagfish slime thread and the thread cells. It shows the largest cell size allometry in animals known. The results suggest a significant impact from body size-related selection (via predator-prey interactions) for the evolution of slime threads. See interviews by The Scientists and SYFY Wire.
We showed cells with distinctive motilities can move together with a division of labor https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-020-01300-w 3D rotation reconstruction based on Particle Image Velocimetry Reconstruction of rolling kinematics Schematic of rolling powered by flagellar motor
new manuscript explaining the connection between post-hatch dispersal into tree canopies and the evolution of gliding in nymphs of Extatosoma tiaratum, a stick insect native to coastal Queensland. https://jeb.biologists.org/content/223/19/jeb226266 Post-hatch dispersal in Macleay’s spectre stick insect, Extatosoma tiaratum. (A) Left: natural habitat of E. tiaratum, illustrating the spatial complexity and vertically varying light environment. Photo... Continue Reading →
The origin of insect flight presumably underwent a series of intermediate morphologies, which, unfortunately, has not been shown in the fossil record. However, we can infer such transition by studying extant insects undergoing secondary flight reduction. In this new publication (link), we presented a framework for describing the evolutionary pathway between winged and wingless (volant)... Continue Reading →
YU ZENG - 曾昱 