A team of biologists in Montana and Germany has found that, regardless of type, those insects that express a protective stick- or leaf-like appearance all evolved the same basic body parts. In their study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Romain Boisseau, Douglas Emlen and Sven Bradler measured and compared characteristics from 1,359 stick insects covering 212 stick and leaf species and assessed the possibility of predicting evolutionary change.
Prior evidence has shown that similar physical characteristics can evolve in unrelated creatures, a process called convergent evolution. For this new study, the researchers looked at two specific types of insects to learn more about how convergence works. They discovered that stick- and leaf-imitating insects had all evolved the same 20 basic body features, including body shape, head shape and lobster-like features. In all cases, they noted, the features had evolved to help the insects blend into the background to avoid being eaten by predators.
Something else the team learned was that because the same body parts kept evolving in different insects, they could predict how some modern insects will evolve. The key was looking at the environmental factors that led to changes that had already occurred. Creatures that live in similar environments, they note, tend to evolve in similar ways, including their means of camouflage. This tends to be the best way to avoid predators.
The researchers claim theirs is the largest-ever study of convergent evolution across stick and leaf lineages. They also note that the data they amassed accounted for both differences and similarities in insects that were hiding from the same predators. Such data helps us better understand how convergent evolution works.
The researchers also found that insects with similar body plans tend to share an ancestor, even if they have different appearances, a finding that suggests they took different evolutionary paths to evolve their similar body parts.
More information:
Romain P. Boisseau et al, Divergence time and environmental similarity predict the strength of morphological convergence in stick and leaf insects, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2024). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2319485121
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Convergent evolution: stick and leaf insects share 20 body features (2024, December 27)
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