RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 A second view on the evolution of flight in stick and leaf insects (Phasmatodea)
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2021.10.12.464101
DO 10.1101/2021.10.12.464101
A1 Sarah Bank
A1 Sven Bradler
YR 2021
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/10/18/2021.10.12.464101.abstract
AB The re-evolution of complex characters is generally considered impossible, yet, studies of recent years have provided several examples of phenotypic reversals shown to violate Dollo’s law. Along these lines, the regain of wings in stick and leaf insects (Phasmatodea) was hypothesised to have occurred several times independently after an ancestral loss, a scenario controversially discussed among evolutionary biologists. Here, we revisit the recovery of wings by reconstructing a phylogeny based on a comprehensive taxon sample of over 500 representative phasmatodean species to infer the evolutionary history of wings. We additionally explored the presence of ocelli, the photoreceptive organs used for flight stabilisation in winged insects, which might provide further information for interpreting flight evolution. Our findings support an ancestral loss of wings and that the ancestors of most major lineages were wingless. While the evolution of ocelli was estimated to be dependent on the presence of (fully-developed) wings, ocelli are nevertheless absent in the majority of all examined winged species and only appear in the members of few subordinate clades, albeit winged and volant taxa are found in every lineage. The disjunct distribution of ocelli substantiates the hypothesis on trait reacquisition and that wings were regained in Phasmatodea.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.