Flowers and Insect Evolution

The Evolution of Empty Flowers

This paper describes a simple model intended as a first step towards a quantitative theory of the flower. It divides both flowers and their visitors into two categories: the flowers may either produce a substantial volume of nectar ("secretors") or none ("cheaters"), while the insects either attempt to discriminate between them and enter only secretors ("selectors") or enter any flower encounte...

Darwin and the evolution of flowers.

Insect evolution

It goes without saying that insects epitomize diversity, and with over a million documented species they stand out as one of the most remarkable lineages in the 3.5-billion-year history of life on earth (Figure 1). This reality is passé to even the layperson and is taken for granted in the same way none of us think much of our breathing as we go about our day, and yet insects are just as vital ...

Insect evolution: How did insect wings originate?

Recent developmental studies aimed at elucidating the evolutionary origin of insect wings highlight the difficulties of identifying homology between dramatically different structures.

Evolution of Insect Olfaction

Neuroethology utilizes a wide range of multidisciplinary approaches to decipher neural correlates of natural behaviors associated with an animal's ecological niche. By placing emphasis on comparative analyses of adaptive and evolutionary trends across species, a neuroethological perspective is uniquely suited to uncovering general organizational and biological principles that shape the function...