Department of Entomology, Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow 119234, Russia.
Sci Rep. 2017 Feb 22;7:43095. doi: 10.1038/srep43095.
The study of the influence of body size on structure in animals, as well as scaling of organs, is one of the key areas of functional and evolutionary morphology of organisms. Most studies in this area treated mammals or birds; comparatively few studies are available on other groups of animals. Insects, because of the huge range of their body sizes and because of their colossal diversity, should be included in the discussion of the problem of scaling and allometry in animals, but to date they remain insufficiently studied. In this study, а total of 28 complete (for all organs) and 24 partial 3D computer reconstructions of body and organs have been made for 23 insect species of 11 families and five orders. The relative volume of organs was analyzed based on these models. Most insect organs display a huge potential for scaling and for retaining their organization and constant relative volume. By contrast, the relative volume of the reproductive and nervous systems increases by a considerable factor as body size decreases. These systems can geometrically restrain miniaturization in insects and determine the limits to the smallest possible body size.
研究动物体型对结构的影响，以及器官的比例关系，是生物体功能和进化形态学的关键领域之一。该领域的大多数研究都针对哺乳动物或鸟类；而关于其他动物类群的研究相对较少。昆虫由于其体型范围巨大，多样性巨大，应该被纳入动物比例和异速生长问题的讨论中，但迄今为止，它们的研究仍然不足。在这项研究中，总共为 11 科 5 目 23 种昆虫制作了 28 个完整的（所有器官）和 24 个部分的 3D 计算机身体和器官重建。基于这些模型分析了器官的相对体积。大多数昆虫器官具有巨大的比例生长潜力，能够保持其组织和相对体积的恒定。相比之下，生殖系统和神经系统的相对体积随着体型的减小而显著增加。这些系统可以在几何上限制昆虫的微型化，并确定最小可能体型的极限。
