We revise the historical evolution of the societies devoted to Developmental Biology from the early activities of the Institut International d'Embryologie (IIE), founded in 1911, with particular emphasis on the more recent constitution of the Spanish Sociedad Española de Biología del Desarrollo (SEBD), founded in 1994, and the Portuguese Sociedade Portuguesa de Biologia do Desenvolvimento (SPBD), founded in 2006. We also describe the role played by The International Journal of Developmental Biology (IJDB) in the constitution of the SEBD and its projection and support to international Developmental Biology societies and individual researchers in the world, according to its mission to be a non-for-profit publication for scientists, by scientists. © 2009 UBC Press.