Evolution of sea slug brains
This is the second publication arising from Jim Newcomb's thesis work in Paul Katz's lab.  Jim is now an assistant professor at New England College in New Hampshire.  Here, Newcomb and Katz showed that the same neuron cell types can be identified in the brains of different species of sea slugs. These neurons all use the neurotransmitter serotonin.  In one species, Tritonia diomedea , these serotonergic neurons play an important role in the production of swimming movements.  But many of the other species do not swim.  Newcomb and Katz found that there is a conserved function too; in Tritonia and the other sea slugs, these serotonergic neurons make connections with neurons that control crawling.  So, Tritonia seems to have evolved the swimming behavior in part by adding a new function to an existing neuron. J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol. 2006 Dec 19.

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