A sea urchin is a head with a brain-like organization and a vertebrate-type retinal signature.

Abstract. Gathering data on species description authorship is one way to track who has had access to a career in taxonomy. Via data from the World Spider C

The siphonophore Physalia physalis regularly strands along the US East Coast, yet the dynamics driving its seasonal and geographic distribution in this region remain poorly understood. Building on a n...

Synopsis. Opsins are G-protein-coupled receptors often expressed in neuronal photoreceptor cells and used for light detection in most animals, including cn

Abstract. Stoneflies (Insecta: Plecoptera) are a widespread group of freshwater insects known for their ecological significance and sensitivity to environm

This petition is organized by Right to Democracy and America the Beautiful for All Coalition in support of leaders and communities from American Samoa and all U.S. territories. When signing the petiti...

Dragonflies are teaching researchers and students about Boise’s ecosystem and unlocking the larger mysteries of the insects’ behavior.

Although the publication of high-quality reference genomes is steadily increasing for vertebrate groups, many clades remain chronically neglected. Skinks (order: Squamata; family: Scincidae) are one of the most diverse lizard families (1,785 species), yet there are currently just four published chromosome-level skink genomes. Here, we present the first telomere-to-telomere, chromosome-level reference genome for one of the most abundant lizards in the eastern United States, the common five-lined skink ( Plestiodon fasciatus ). Through the sequencing of RNA, long-read DNA, and Hi-C chromatin interactions, we produced an annotated reference genome (N50 = 227MB, L50 = 3) consisting of 6 macrochromosome pairs and 7 microchromosome pairs with 98% of BUSCO genes (lineage: sauropsida; 7480 BUSCO markers) represented, providing one of the most complete skink genomes to date: rPleFas1.1 . Functional annotation predicts 32,520 protein-coding genes (16,100 unique, named genes) with an average gene length of 9,372bp. Repeat annotations estimate that transposable elements comprise 46.7% of the genome, for which we show the amount and content is remarkably conserved across Scincidae.

Nature - Marine creatures house contraband structures in special organelles, which the animal raids for food in times of need.

Fish biofluorescence evolved more than 100 times, has ties to coral reefs, and involves more colors than previously thought.