TitleInsect Flight: State of the Field and Future Directions.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2024
AuthorsTreidel LA, Deem KD, Salcedo MK, Dickinson MH, Bruce HS, Darveau C-A, Dickerson BH, Ellers O, Glass JR, Gordon CM, Harrison JF, Hedrick TL, Johnson MG, Lebenzon JE, Marden JH, Niitepõld K, Sane SP, Sponberg S, Talal S, Williams CM, Wold ES
JournalIntegr Comp Biol
Date Published2024 Jul 09
ISSN1557-7023
Abstract

The evolution of flight in an early winged insect ancestral lineage is recognized as a key adaptation explaining the unparalleled success and diversification of insects. Subsequent transitions and modifications to flight machinery, including secondary reductions and losses, also play a central role in shaping the impacts of insects on broadscale geographic and ecological processes and patterns in the present and future. Given the importance of insect flight, there has been a centuries-long history of research and debate on the evolutionary origins and biological mechanisms of flight. Here, we revisit this history from an interdisciplinary perspective, discussing recent discoveries regarding the developmental origins, physiology, biomechanics, and neurobiology and sensory control of flight in a diverse set of insect models. We also identify major outstanding questions yet to be addressed and provide recommendations for overcoming current methodological challenges faced when studying insect flight, which will allow the field to continue to move forward in new and exciting directions. By integrating mechanistic work into ecological and evolutionary contexts, we hope that this synthesis promotes and stimulates new interdisciplinary research efforts necessary to close the many existing gaps about the causes and consequences of insect flight evolution.

DOI10.1093/icb/icae106
Alternate JournalIntegr Comp Biol
PubMed ID38982327