In this installment of #ScientistOutLoud, the Lab Out Loud podcast welcomes research and teaching professor Prashant Sharma from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Using morphology and genomic data, Dr. Sharma and his lab recently challenged our understanding of arachnid classification, by adding horseshoe crabs to the same class as spiders and scorpions. Dr. Sharma joins co-hosts Brian Bartel and Dale Basler to remind them how modern classification works, describe why his team believes horseshoe crabs should be classified as arachnids, and discuss how this work showcases the process of science.

About The Guest:
Dr. Prashant Sharma is the principal investigator of the Sharma Lab in the department of Integrative Biology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The lab’s research broadly addresses macroevolution of invertebrates through the lenses of phylogenetics, genomics, and comparative development, with emphasis on chelicerate arthropods (from sharmalabuw.org)

Show notes at:

https://laboutloud.com/2022/03/episode-262-horseshoe-crab-classification/