With so many elusive creatures occupying the forgotten corners of Earth, scientists are always knee-deep in mysteries that form the fabric of the animal kingdom.
A big part of the puzzle is understanding how certain animals have developed distinct characteristics from ancestors that lived hundreds of millennia ago; for one group of animals, Ecdysozoa, the debate surrounding the ancient evolution of their nervous systems is now settled thanks to a new study published in Science Advances.
What Are Ecdysozoans?
Ecdysozoa is a group of animals that includes arthropods (insects, crustaceans), nematodes, and other worm-like organisms. One of the defining hallmarks of ecdysozoan animals is ecdysis, the process of molting, or shedding, their cuticle, an exoskeleton that covers their body like a protective set of armor.
