Fig. 1: Ephydatia muelleri biology and inter-relationships. | Nature Communications

Fig. 1: Ephydatia muelleri biology and inter-relationships.

From: Tracing animal genomic evolution with the chromosomal-level assembly of the freshwater sponge Ephydatia muelleri

Fig. 1: Ephydatia muelleri biology and inter-relationships.The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.

a Diagrammatic cladogram of poriferan inter-relationships, showing fossil-calibrated divergence clock at bottom and at key nodes. These estimates of divergence were taken from prior analyses as shown in Supplementary Fig. 1. Tree is rooted with choanoflagellate species. Key clades and previously sequenced species are boxed and indicated. b Light microscope images of E. muelleri in culture and in situ (photos: S. Leys, scale 1 mm in left image, 1 cm at right). c Life cycle of E. muelleri, showing asexual (left) and sexual (right) modes of reproduction. Gemmules indicated as yellow dots in adult tissue. Asexual reproduction proceeds via hardy gemmules produced internally (i), which are separated from adults (ii), hatch and directly develop (iii) into adult tissue (iv). Sexual reproduction proceeds via generation of gametes (i*), embryonic development into a mobile parenchymella larva (ii*), and development as an independent adult (iii*).

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