Fig. 1 from Herron 2016. Examples of volvocine species. A: Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, B: Gonium pectorale, C: Astrephomene gubernaculiferum, D: Pandorina morum, E: Volvulina compacta, F: Platydorina caudata, G: Yamagishiella unicocca, H: Colemanosphaera charkowiensis, I: Eudorina elegans, J: Pleodorina starrii, K: Volvox barberi, L: Volvox ovalis, M: Volvox gigas, N: Volvox aureus, O: Volvox carteri. A and B by Deborah Shelton.

The meeting review for the Third International Volvox Conference is now available online at Molecular Ecology (doi: 10.1111/mec.13551). The editors warned me ahead of time that the challenge for this paper would be to make it of broad interest to the readership of Molecular Ecology, so there is a lot of background information that will be old news to members of the Volvox community.

It is also not comprehensive. If your talk or poster is not mentioned, it’s not because it wasn’t interesting. I had to make some judgement calls both to save space and to maintain a somewhat cohesive narrative. As one reviewer pointed out, this is my take on volvocine research, and it’s bound to reflect my interests and biases.

If you would like to read the paper but don’t have access to Molecular Ecology, shoot me an email. If you notice any out-and-out mistakes, please let me know in the comments or by email. If the editors permit, I’ll fix them at the page proof stage.

Finally, I would like to express my deepest apologies for the cheesy pun at the end of the Conclusions.