This has
been tentatively suggested (Aboobaker and
Blaxter 2003a ; Minelli 2009 ) as a possible explanation
for the relatively simple organization of
the nematodes, compared to most ecdysozoans,
which possibly correlates with a reduction in the
number of Hox genes (which is coupled, however,
with a very high rate of evolution of the surviving
members of this gene family; Aboobaker
and Blaxter 2003b )