title: From the ethology of unicellular eukaryotes to the locomotion of the living beings: meaning and evolution of the phenomenon.
abstract: A comparative reappraisal of the general problem of evolutionary trends and constraints of the locomotion phenomenon from prokaryotes to protozoa to metazoa was carried on. They elaborated different propulsive systems, different control systems of motion and different analysis systems of the stimuli. A general understanding of the locomotion phenomenon was reached and ciliate behaviour was positioned within the wider context of the evolution of biological displacement.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Etologia, Ecologia ed Evoluzione, via Volta 6, 56126 Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Rosalba
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Banchetti
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D005010:Ethology; D005057:Eukaryotic Cells; D006801:Humans; D008124:Locomotion; D014714:Vertebrates