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The origin of morphological innovation has been extensively studied within evolutionary developmental biology (evo‐devo). Recent studies have demonstrated that the developmental module for double‐layered epithelial outgrowths is conserved between the insect wings and branchiopod crustacean carapace, thereby introducing homology among these diverse structures. However, evo‐devo studies on the branchiopod crustacean carapace have been primarily limited to a single species, the water flea Daphnia magna, leaving the gene regulatory network governing carapace development not comprehensively understood. Furthermore, realizator genes downstream of the character identity mechanism (ChIM) for bilayered epithelial development remain inadequately described. In this study, we analyzed tissue‐specific transcriptional profiles in the developing longtail tadpole shrimp, Triops longicaudatus. We observed significant upregulation of papilin in the carapace‐bearing head, along with its expression in both the carapace and the trunk limb lobes. Based on these results, we hypothesize that differential expression of papilin is involved in the disproportional growth of Triops carapace. Our findings will contribute to elucidating the diversification of double‐layered epithelial outgrowths across distant arthropod lineages. Research highlights: First tissue‐specific transcriptomic approach on the Triops carapace development.Putative involvement of papilin in the carapace expansion of Triops head. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, the prevalence of mass outbreaks involving non-native insects has sparked concerns about their potential negative impact on human inhabited areas and local environments. Plecia longiforceps Duda, 1933 (Diptera, Bibionidae) was recently recognized as an invasive pest in South Korea, causing public nuisance through mass outbreaks in the Seoul Metropolitan Area during early summer. In this study, we present the first complete mitochondrial genome of Plecia longiforceps, generated from the PacBio HiFi long-read sequencing data. Notably, the length of the circular genome is found to be larger than any annotated reference sequences of mitochondrial genomes for the infraorder Bibionomorpha, which is attributable to an unusually long A+T rich control region. We conducted a phylogenetic analysis of Bibionomorpha, focusing specifically on the family Bibionidae, using nearly all available mitochondrial genome data to elucidate relationships among genera within Bibionidae. Our phylogeny of Bibionomorpha recovered a strong monophyly of the family Bibionidae and its three subfamilies: Bibioninae (Bibio + Dilophus), Hesperininae (Hesperinus + Penthetria), and Pleciinae (Plecia), corroborating the recently proposed taxonomic classification system of Bibionidae. Furthermore, we discuss evolutionary trends within Bibionidae based on our well-supported higher relationships of the superfamily Bibionoidea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Thermochemical methods, such as the sulfur‐iodine cycle and hybrid sulfur cycle, are more advantageous than conventional hydrogen production methods, such as fossil fuel reforming and water electrolysis, for large‐scale hydrogen production. Sulfuric acid decomposition is a highly endothermic reaction of the sulfur‐iodine cycle. To sustain this endothermic process using high‐temperature waste heat from solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), we propose an integrated thermochemical reactor combined with SOFC by taking a computational approach. First, a thermodynamic analysis was performed to evaluate the heat production of SOFC to sustain the thermochemical reaction in the combined reactor, resulting in a required waste heat of 0.565 kW from the SOFC that was obtained by consuming 0.0241 kg‧h−1 of H2 to process 1.0 kg‧h−1 of the H2SO4 mixture for the H2SO4 decomposer. For the SOFC inlet temperatures 923, 1023, and 1173 K, the corresponding SO3 conversions of the combined reactor were 72.1%, 77.3%, and 85.1%, respectively. A further increase of over 1200 K in the operating temperature led to a minor improvement in the SO3 conversion efficiency. In the SOFC section, the H2 mass fraction decreased from 67.9% to 10.8% in the anode channel, and 0.169 kW of electrical power was generated when the operating cell voltage and energy efficiency were 0.7 V and 53.71%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]