Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

WING ORIGINS

Into the body wall and back out again

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 4, pages 1580–1581 (2020)Cite this article

Subjects

Two analyses of developmental patterning functions of leg and wing genes in a crustacean provide complementary support for the incorporation of proximal leg components into the body wall during the crustacean–insect transition, but lead to duelling models for which portion(s) re-emerged from the body as wings.

Insect wings are a key innovation underlying the most impressive radiation in the animal kingdom, enabling insects to become the first of only four lineages to take to the skies. However, their origins remain obscure. In contrast to the wings of birds, bats and pterosaurs, which evolved by transformation of vertebrate forelimbs, insect wings lack clear homologues in their wingless pancrustacean relatives. This absence of clear homologues, combined with an absence of transitional fossils, has led to many conflicting models for the origin of insect wings. In two longstanding models, wings are hypothesized to have evolved either from extensions of the dorsal body wall or from a proximal leg component1. Two studies2,3 in Nature Ecology & Evolution seek to test these hypotheses by investigating development of the crustacean Parhyale hawaiensis, a distant relative of winged insects.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Evolutionary models for the origin of insect wings.

References

  1. Crampton, G. C. J. N. Y. Entomol. Soc. 24, 1–38 (1916).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Bruce, H. S. & Patel, N. H. Nat. Ecol. Evol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-01349-0 (2020).

  3. Clark-Hachtel, C. M. & Tomoyasu, Y. Nat. Ecol. Evol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-1257-8 (2020).

  4. Boxshall, G. A. Biol. Rev. 79, 253–300 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Snodgrass, R. E. Principles of Insect Morphology (McGraw-Hill, 1935).

  6. Clark-Hachtel, C. M., Linz, D. M. & Tomoyasu, Y. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 110, 16951–16956 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Niwa, N. et al. Evol. Dev. 12, 168–176 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Panganiban, G. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 94, 5162–5166 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL, USA

    Frank W. Smith

  2. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA

    Elizabeth L. Jockusch

Authors
  1. Frank W. Smith
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Elizabeth L. Jockusch
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Frank W. Smith or Elizabeth L. Jockusch.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Smith, F.W., Jockusch, E.L. Into the body wall and back out again. Nat Ecol Evol 4, 1580–1581 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-01350-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-01350-7

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing