We applaud the well-deserved recognition of Cassandra Extavour (see Nature 571, 24–26; 2019). As former students and postdocs of Leo Buss, however, we would point out that it was Buss, not Extavour, who carried out the “first-of-its-kind” literature review of the evolution of mechanisms that specify germ cells and their implications for germline development (see, for example, L. W. Buss Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 80, 1387–1391 (1983); L. W. Buss The Evolution of Individuality; 1987).

Extavour’s review incorporated a further 20 or so years of contributions (see C. Extavour and M. Akam Development 130, 5869–5884; 2003). She expands on Buss’s model in a later synthesis (see Integr. Comp. Biol. 47, 770–785; 2007).