Figure 1
B. leachii phylogenetic position and life cycle. (A) Schematic showing phylogeny of tunicates with respect to the chordate clade (consensus based on4,146,147). (B) Life cycle of B. leachii. The colony expands and grows by asexual reproduction (right loop). During favourable conditions such as warmer water temperatures, members of the colonies start sexual reproduction (left loop). The embryo develops viviparously within the colony in brood pouches until hatching. Motile larvae attach to nearby substrates and begin metamorphosis into oozooids. Abbreviations: zooid (z), system (y), tunic (c), vascular system (v), terminal ampullae (a), buccal siphon (pb), atrial siphon (pa), fertilized oocyte (o), notochord (n), larval tadpole (l), oozooid (zo), bud (b), budlet (bt), regressing zooid (r).
