The most remarkable luciferin in terms of its distribution is known as coelenterazine. This nitrogen-ring based molecule is found in nine separate groups, ranging from radiolarians to fish.

Flying through the air on a summer's evening or sparkling in the ocean you may see magical flashes of light that signal some of nature's most enchanting creatures, those that are bioluminescent.

All plants are harmless? Well, not quite - at least not when you're an insect...

Pufferfish are some of the most extraordinary fish to have evolved, especially because of their capacity to swallow water and inflate themselves to something like a football. Not only that but some representatives can be deadly to the unwary diner...

Insects pollinating flowers are a familiar sight. But what happens when the "flower" is actually a fungus? Still "pollination", but now it is fungal spores. Read on to learn more about the fungi that mimic flowers...

Autumn colours are likely to be adaptive, as the 'default' is simply to remain green up to leaf fall, and both red and yellow leaf colouration have evolved independently on many occasions in gymnosperms and woody angiosperms.

Not many foods served in a restaurant can kill you, but pufferfish is the exception. Tetrodotoxin, the toxin responsible for such culinary fatalities, reveals a fascinating story of convergent evolution...

Although the evolution of snake fangs itself provides us with a window on convergence, the presence of fang-like teeth in lizards, therapsids and mammals provides an even broader and more remarkable perspective.

Saxitoxin has a similar molecular structure to tetrodoxin and a wide distribution amongst living organisms, with evidence that is has been recruited independently several times.

There is an intriguing correlation with larger numbers of SNAREs and multicellularity, at least in plants and animals.

The presence of Malassezia does not guarantee dandruff, as this fungus is commonly present on healthy skin, but it evidently central to dandruff production if other key factors support it.

Magnetotactic bacteria provide some excellent examples of convergent evolution.  In particular the ability to synthesize iron compounds has evolved at least twice, respectively employing iron oxide (magnetite) and iron sulphide.

A series of striking convergences can be found in the sea-hares (Aplysia), a group of gastropods and only remotely related to the cephalopods.  Not only do they emit ink clouds (the colour is derived from ingested red algae), but they also employ chemical cues that assist in defense.

Latex is important in terms of defence not only because it typically gums-up attackers, notably insects, but often contains toxins.

Sodium voltage-gated ion channels are vital to electric signal transmission, but it is less widely appreciated that they are convergent and have evolved at least twice in groups outside the animals.

Some of the silica spicules of glass sponges are very long, and extraordinarily have a striking similarity to the optical fibres employed in the telecommunications industry.

Beware the venomous shrew! Yes, venomous. And convergent on some formidable lizards...

Lipocalins are proteins that bind to and transport small hydrophobic molecules such as lipids and steroids, and have been associated with biological processes such as milk production, pheromone transport and immune responses.

One of the allelic forms of haptoglobin, known as Hp2, in the case of humans and cow shows a striking convergence, notably in the so-called complement control protein (CCP) domain.

Plant waxes are employed in contexts other than water retention, notably to deter insects or to provide a lethal glissade across which the prey of carnivorous pitcher plants slide to their doom.

Remarkably, fossil silk is known, especially from amber of Cretaceous age. Material includes both silk with trapped insects, possibly from an orb-web, and strands with the characteristic viscid droplets that are the key in trapping prey.

It is now clear that the cellular construction of at least the eubacteria is more complex than realized, and includes organelle-like structures known as microcompartments, of which the best known are the carboxysomes.

Enzymes make the world go round, each an evolutionary marvel - and convergent.

Just as with insecticides, we see both evolution in action and also striking instances of convergence where resistance is acquired independently

Unfortunately, just as in insecticides, resistance rapidly develops and is not only an excellent example of evolution in action, but also is strikingly convergent.

The striking plumage of the turaco owes its colour to turacoverdin. Interestingly, this is a copper based pigment and is also convergent in the jacanas, a group of wading birds.

Carbonic anhydrase is extremely convergent and may have evolved as many as six times. The most familiar variants are α, β and γ carbonic anhydrases.

Regulation of gene networks and cell cycles are of particular importance for convergence because genomic organization in bacteria shows significant differences from the eukaryotes.

Interestingly, it has now been shown that the saliva of the aphids has an analogue to the anti-coagulant properties of blood suckers, subverting the wound repair mechanism of the plant.

Not only are there intriguing parallels in the story of gene loss in chloroplasts and mitochondria, but there is also the re-invention of bacterial pathways, such as oxidation of quinols.

This group of arthropods is also important because they show independent invasion of the land (terrestrialization), which not surprisingly has led to important convergences.

On land, we find the employment of zinc to reinforce feeding structures in the fangs of spiders, and also in a variety of insect groups.

Exampes of convergece in bird plumage are the well-known tendency for different groups of tropical sea-birds to have dark plumage, and what may represent Müllerian mimicry in the pitohuis, which are famous for their convergent use of toxic alkaloids.

Application of insecticides, such as against mosquitoes, has been documented in several primates and birds.

Not surprisingly this is a rich area of insights into evolutionary convergence because if an animal, such as a spider, can independently evolve the pheromone then a sexual lure is turned into a metaphorical honey trap.

The degree of similarity between the active sites in arthropod and molluscan haemocyanin has been called “remarkable” and “startling”, but actually suggests that wherever in the universe life employs copper for aerobic respiration it will call upon haemocyanin.

Whereas typically technology demands furnaces, so that the glass for a lens is produced at hundreds of degrees Celsius and then requires most careful grinding, so nature calls upon proteins known as crystallins.

Notable instances of convergence involving annelids include luminescence, moulting and the independent evolution of both compound eyes (e.g. in sabellids) and camera eyes (in alciopids).

The many striking examples of convergence most famously include the case of mimicry, but the question of defence also extends to the use of toxins (and venoms), such as alkaloids, where we also find molecular convergence.

Moulting has, however, evolved independently in other groups, including the annelids where some polychaetes shed their jaws.

Normally one thinks of an eye as a structure that allows light to pour into the body, but in at least some squid (cephalopods) the opposite has been achieved.

Other cephalopods achieve reflectivity by employing collagen fibrils, of which the deep-sea Vampyroteuthis is perhaps the most striking example.

In some vertebrates (fish, mammals) and cephalopods we find an interesting convergence whereby some of the incoming ultraviolet is screened out.