Convergent flight morphology among Müllerian mimic mutualists

Evolution ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 75 (10) ◽  
pp. 2460-2479
Author(s):  
Ryan I. Hill
Keyword(s):  
Flight Morphology

Flight Morphology and Flight Muscles

2021 ◽  
pp. 41-55
Author(s):  
N. Chari ◽  
A. Ravi ◽  
Ponna Srinivas ◽  
A. Uma
Keyword(s):  
Flight Morphology ◽  
Flight Muscles

scholarly journals Forest stratification shapes allometry and flight morphology of tropical butterflies

2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1937) ◽  
pp. 20201071
Author(s):  
Sebastián Mena ◽  
Krzysztof M. Kozak ◽  
Rafael E. Cárdenas ◽  
María F. Checa
Keyword(s):  
Insect Flight ◽  
Morphological Diversity ◽  
Vertical Gradient ◽  
Latitudinal Gradients ◽  
Butterfly Species ◽  
Forest Stratification ◽  
Aspect Ratios ◽  
Flight Morphology ◽  
Study Selection ◽  
Key Factor

Studies of altitudinal and latitudinal gradients have identified links between the evolution of insect flight morphology, landscape structure and microclimate. Although lowland tropical rainforests offer steeper shifts in conditions between the canopy and the understorey, this vertical gradient has received far less attention. Butterflies, because of their great phenotypic plasticity, are excellent models to study selection pressures that mould flight morphology. We examined data collected over 5 years on 64 Nymphalidae butterflies in the Ecuadorian Chocó rainforest. We used phylogenetic methods to control for similarity resulting from common ancestry, and explore the relationships between species stratification and flight morphology. We hypothesized that species should show morphological adaptations related to differing micro-environments, associated with canopy and understorey. We found that butterfly species living in each stratum presented significantly different allometric slopes. Furthermore, a preference for the canopy was significantly associated with low wing area to thoracic volume ratios and high wing aspect ratios, but not with the relative distance to the wing centroid, consistent with extended use of fast flapping flight for canopy butterflies and slow gliding for the understorey. Our results suggest that microclimate differences in vertical gradients are a key factor in generating morphological diversity in flying insects.

scholarly journals Comparison of radar signatures based on flight morphology for large birds and small birds

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 1365-1369
Author(s):  
Jiangkun Gong ◽  
Jun Yan ◽  
Deren Li ◽  
Ruizhi Chen
Keyword(s):  
Flight Morphology ◽  
Radar Signatures

scholarly journals Falling Victim to Wasps in the Air: A Fate Driven by Prey Flight Morphology?

PLoS ONE ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. e0152256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yolanda Ballesteros ◽  
Carlo Polidori ◽  
José Tormos ◽  
Laura Baños-Picón ◽  
Josep D. Asís
Keyword(s):  
Flight Morphology

scholarly journals Diversity and ecology of carrion- and fruit-feeding butterflies in Bornean rain forest

2005 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. C. Hamer ◽  
J. K. Hill ◽  
S. Benedick ◽  
N. Mustaffa ◽  
V. K. Chey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rain Forest ◽  
Tropical Rain Forests ◽  
Lowland Rain Forest ◽  
Mobile Species ◽  
Β Diversity ◽  
Fruit Species ◽  
Larval Host ◽  
Flight Morphology ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Host Plant Specificity

Tropical rain forests are well known as centres of insect diversity and much effort has focused on the role of larval host plant specificity in generating and maintaining this diversity, but fewer studies have examined the exploitation of different food resources by adults in this context. Tropical butterflies feed as adults on a wide range of resources and we examined the diversity and ecology of species feeding on rotting fruit and carrion in a tropical lowland rain forest in Sabah, Borneo. We found that species richness and diversity were significantly higher on carrion than on fruit, and that this pattern was repeated at genus and family level. There was little similarity in species assemblages on the two substrates and β-diversity between carrion and fruit comprised 33% of the total diversity of butterflies feeding on decaying matter. β-diversity between canopy gap and shade microhabitats comprised 21% of total species diversity on carrion but only 7% of the total on fruit, indicating greater functional diversity on carrion in terms of light preferences. Captures were strongly male-biased on carrion but not on fruit, and recapture rates were much lower on carrion than on fruit. Species from two subfamilies (Nymphalinae and Charaxinae) exploited both substrates and for Charaxinae, there was evidence from adult flight morphology that species on carrion were capable of faster more-powerful flight. These results support the notion of a distinctive carrion-feeding fauna comprising more mobile species, which may use carrion to meet additional nitrogen requirements resulting from greater musculature. However there was no relationship between flight morphology and substrate choice in the Nymphalinae, and carrion-feeding may not have a unitary explanation.

The turning- and linear-maneuvering performance of birds: the cost of efficiency for coursing insectivores

1998 ◽  
Vol 76 (6) ◽  
pp. 1063-1079 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas R Warrick
Keyword(s):  
Aspect Ratio ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Flight Morphology ◽  
Aerial Insectivores ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Performance Demands

To examine the performance compromises necessitated by adaptations for high efficiency in flight, such as highaspect ratio wings, the flight morphology and acceleration performance of a guild of coursing aerial insectivores (swifts andswallows) were compared with those of a guild of avian generalists. Though phylogenetic non-independence made inference ofadaptation difficult, biologically significant differences in aspect ratio and acceleration performance probably exist between thetwo groups of birds. A model of aerial insectivory is presented to illustrate the performance demands of this foraging methodand the impacts of the compromises between high efficiency in sustained flight and turning- and linear-maneuveringperformance.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document