Ronald A. Jenner is Principal Researcher in the Department of Life Sciences at the Natural History Museum, London. His research focuses on animal phylogenetics, body plan evolution, the evolution of venoms, and conceptual issues in systematics. He has published extensively in the primary literature and co-authored Venom: The Secrets of Nature's Deadliest Weapon (The Natural History Museum, 2017).

'Recommended.' E. Delson, Choice

• 1. A history of narrative phylogenetics; 2. From archetypes to ancestors; 3. The emergence of lineage thinking; 4. Ernst Haeckel's evolutionary storytelling; 5. The epistemic rise of hypothetical ancestors; 6. Intuiting evolution; 7. Telling straight stories with fossils; 8. Seeing animal ancestors in embryos; 9. Ancestral attractions and phylogenetic folklore; 10. Narrative shortcuts and phylogenetic faux pas; 11. Taxic distortions of lineage thinking; 12. Making sense with stories.

Ronald A. Jenner is Principal Researcher in the Department of Life Sciences at the Natural History Museum, London. His research focuses on animal phylogenetics, body plan evolution, the evolution of venoms, and conceptual issues in systematics. He has published extensively in the primary literature and co-authored Venom: The Secrets of Nature's Deadliest Weapon (The Natural History Museum, 2017).

'Recommended.' E. Delson, Choice

• 1. A history of narrative phylogenetics; 2. From archetypes to ancestors; 3. The emergence of lineage thinking; 4. Ernst Haeckel's evolutionary storytelling; 5. The epistemic rise of hypothetical ancestors; 6. Intuiting evolution; 7. Telling straight stories with fossils; 8. Seeing animal ancestors in embryos; 9. Ancestral attractions and phylogenetic folklore; 10. Narrative shortcuts and phylogenetic faux pas; 11. Taxic distortions of lineage thinking; 12. Making sense with stories.

Ronald A. Jenner is Principal Researcher in the Department of Life Sciences at the Natural History Museum, London. His research focuses on animal phylogenetics, body plan evolution, the evolution of venoms, and conceptual issues in systematics. He has published extensively in the primary literature and co-authored Venom: The Secrets of Nature's Deadliest Weapon (The Natural History Museum, 2017).

'Recommended.' E. Delson, Choice

• 1. A history of narrative phylogenetics; 2. From archetypes to ancestors; 3. The emergence of lineage thinking; 4. Ernst Haeckel's evolutionary storytelling; 5. The epistemic rise of hypothetical ancestors; 6. Intuiting evolution; 7. Telling straight stories with fossils; 8. Seeing animal ancestors in embryos; 9. Ancestral attractions and phylogenetic folklore; 10. Narrative shortcuts and phylogenetic faux pas; 11. Taxic distortions of lineage thinking; 12. Making sense with stories.