ABSTRACT
This chapter looks back over the last 20 years that witnessed the emergence of the marine crustacean Parhyale hawaiensis as an attractive experimental model organism for comparative developmental, genetic and genomic research. It covers the unique ethological, anatomical, embryological and developmental characteristics of Parhyale that enabled the establishment of diverse functional manipulations and standardized resources in this species. Multidisciplinary studies in Parhyale have helped resolve longstanding issues in biology, such as the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying body patterning and appendage diversification during arthropod development and evolution. The chapter looks also forward and identifies key fields of biological and biomedical research, including regenerative biology, quantitative developmental biology, ecotoxicology and biotechnology, where Parhyale research could make major contributions in the future.
