Chen, ZeyuanBaeza, J. AntonioChen, ChongGonzalez, Maria TeresaGonzalez, Vanessa LizGreve, CarolaKocot, Kevin MArbizu, Pedro MartinezMoles, JuanSchell, TilmanSchwabe, EnricoSun, JinWong, Nur Leena W. SYap-Chiongco, MeghanSigwart, Julia D2026-08-282026-08-2820250036-807510.1126/science.ads0215https://repositorioabierto.uantof.cl/handle/uantof/745Extreme morphological disparity within Mollusca has long confounded efforts to reconstruct a stable backbone phylogeny for the phylum. Familiar molluscan groups-gastropods, bivalves, and cephalopods-each represent a diverse radiation with myriad morphological, ecological, and behavioral adaptations. The phylum further encompasses many more unfamiliar experiments in animal body-plan evolution. In this work, we reconstructed the phylogeny for living Mollusca on the basis of metazoan BUSCO (Benchmarking Universal Single-Copy Orthologs) genes extracted from 77 (13 new) genomes, including multiple members of all eight classes with two high-quality genome assemblies for monoplacophorans. Our analyses confirm a phylogeny proposed from morphology and show widespread genomic variation. The flexibility of the molluscan genome likely explains both historic challenges with their genomes and their evolutionary success.enCopyright ©2025 the authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee AmericanAssociation for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original USgovernment worksArticle