From Aedes aegypti and axolotls to Xenopus and zebrafish, BMC Developmental Biology has had a busy 2014 and below we round up a selection of our highlights of the year.

One of our most cited and viewed articles of 2014 was also one of our first with Philippos Mourikis andShahragim Tajbakhsh’s review of Notch signalling in skeletal muscle stem cells. In February Joan T Richtsmeier and colleagues looked at the role of FGR2 in craniofacial development. The study was discussed in neuroscience news and Biome, our online magazine, featured an interview with the author.

We moved onto March with this image highlight fromEvgeni G Ponimaskin and colleagues, taken from their study into the mechanisms of the freshwater snail (Helisoma trivolvis) larvae development. April boughtanother highly accessed article in this proteomic and transcriptomic study of the developing yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti) eggshell by Anthony A Jamesand colleagues.

From insects to fish withMay’s image highlighttaken from this article by Warren Heideman and colleagues on proepicardial cell migration during heart development. Further stunning images followed withthis figure taken from Ingolf Reim and colleagues’ work into Drosophila cardiac development.

July heralded the publication of two of our most accessed articles with this study by Teri L Belecky-Adams and colleagues into the developing murine optic nerve andthis study by David L Stocum and colleagues into a comparison of the proteomics of the regenerating Xenopus and axolotl hindlimbs. The switch from cartilage to bone in human growth plate development was the focus of this study and this image highlight by Michael B Fischer and colleagues in August.

We moved into fall with Rachel Berry and colleagues’publication on urinary tree patterning which was also featured on our blog. November featured work by Soojin Ryu and colleagues on the evolutionary development of the stress response which was also highlighted in our blog and in Biome.

Finally we ended the year with a wealth of research including articles from Phillip A Newmark on antibodies for planarian studies and Takashi Adachi-Yamada onDrosophila male accessory gland development.

We’re looking forward to 2015!