The Evolution of Flightlessness in Insects

作者：Derek A. Roff · 发表于：Ecological Monographs · 年份：1990 · DOI：10.2307/1943013 · 被引用次数：654 · 研究领域：Plant and animal studies、Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior、Fossil Insects in Amber

Many pterygote (winged) insects have secondarily become flightless; why has this occurred? In this paper I test for an association between the frequency of flightlessness and (1) environmental heterogeneity, (2) geographic variables, (3) gender, (4) alternate modes of migration, and (5) taxonomic variation. Various authors have predicted that decreased environmental heterogeneity will favor the evolution of flightlessness. This hypothesis is consistent with a number of studies on the variation of wing dimorphism and flightlessness and with data analyzed in the present paper on the relationship between habitat type and wing morph in the North American Orthoptera. The incidence of flightlessness is also exceptionally high in woodlands, deserts, on the ocean surface, in specific habitats on the seashore (dunes and rock crevices but not the foreshore), in aquatic habitats, in the winter months, in hymenopteran and termite nests, and among ectoparasites of endotherms and parasites of arthropods. It is low in habitats bordering rivers, streams, ponds, etc. and in arboreal habitats. Some of these habitats can be classified as persistent, but others cannot be so designated or are too vaguely defined. The incidence of flightlessness increases with altitude and latitude but, contrary to "conventional" wisdom, it is not exceptionally high on oceanic islands compared to mainland areas. Several authors have hypothesized that the clinal variation in flightlessness is a consequence of clina...