Department of Forest Ecosystems Protection, University of Agriculture in Krakow, 29 Listopada 54, 31-425, Kraków, Poland.
Division of Biotechnology and Plant Health, Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, Ås, Norway.
Sci Rep. 2024 Mar 24;14(1):6999. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-57658-y.
Gaining the ability to fly actively was a ground-breaking moment in insect evolution, providing an unprecedented advantage over other arthropods. Nevertheless, active flight was a costly innovation, requiring the development of wings and flight muscles, the provision of sufficient energetic resources, and a complex flight control system. Although wings, flight muscles, and the energetic budget of insects have been intensively studied in the last decades, almost nothing is known regarding the flight-control devices of many crucial insect groups, especially beetles (Coleoptera). Here, we conducted a phylogenetic-informed analysis of flight-related mechanosensors in 28 species of bark beetles (Curculionidae: Scolytinae, Platypodinae), an economically and ecologically important group of insects characterized by striking differences in dispersal abilities. The results indicated that beetle flight apparatus is equipped with different functional types of mechanosensors, including strain- and flow-encoding sensilla. We found a strong effect of allometry on the number of mechanosensors, while no effect of relative wing size (a proxy of flight investment) was identified. Our study constitutes the first step to understanding the drivers and constraints of the evolution of flight-control devices in Coleoptera, including bark beetles. More research, including a quantitative neuroanatomical analysis of beetle wings, should be conducted in the future.
主动飞行能力的获得是昆虫进化中的一个突破性时刻，为它们提供了相对于其他节肢动物的前所未有的优势。然而，主动飞行是一项昂贵的创新，需要发展翅膀和飞行肌肉，提供足够的能量资源，并建立一个复杂的飞行控制系统。尽管昆虫的翅膀、飞行肌肉和能量预算在过去几十年中得到了深入研究，但对于许多关键昆虫群体（尤其是甲虫（鞘翅目））的飞行控制装置几乎一无所知。在这里，我们对 28 种树皮甲虫（象甲科：小蠹科、扁甲科）的与飞行相关的机械感受器进行了系统发育信息分析，这是一组具有显著扩散能力差异的经济和生态重要昆虫。结果表明，甲虫的飞行器官配备了不同功能类型的机械感受器，包括应变和流编码感器。我们发现，形态大小（飞行投资的代理）对机械感受器数量没有影响，而对机械感受器数量有强烈的影响。我们的研究是理解鞘翅目，包括树皮甲虫，飞行控制装置进化的驱动因素和限制因素的第一步。未来应该进行更多的研究，包括对甲虫翅膀的定量神经解剖学分析。
