“…Budding and nonbudding species are scattered among the four main tunicate orders: Thaliacea, Phlebobranchia, Aplousobranchia, and Stolidobranchia, and their phylogenetic distribution unambiguously demonstrates that asexual reproduction arose convergently several times (Alié et al, 2018; Delsuc et al, 2018; Govindarajan, Bucklin, & Madin, 2011; Kocot, Tassia, Halanych, & Swalla, 2018; Pérez‐Portela, Bishop, Davis, & Turon, 2009; Shenkar, Koplovitz, Dray, Gissi, & Huchon, 2016; Tsagkogeorga et al, 2009). Convergent acquisition of NED becomes even more evident by the variety of tissues and mechanisms involved in bud formation across the different species (Berrill, 1951; Godeaux, 1957; Oka & Watanabe, 1957; Scelzo, Alié, Pagnotta, & Tiozzo, 2019). In fact, in contrast to embryonic development, which shows an extraordinary level of conservation amongst almost all the main tunicate orders, nonembryonic developmental processes involve a variety of cells, tissues, and ontogenesis, all displaying different degrees of interaction between epithelial and mesenchymal cells (even within a single order).…”