Wasp Waist and Flight: Convergent Evolution in Wasps Reveals a Link between Wings and Body Shapes

Abstract

Insect flight is made possible by different morphological structures: wings produce the lift, the thorax drives the wings' movements and the abdomen serves as a secondary control device. As such, the covariation of these structures could reflect functional constraints related to flight performances. This study examines evolutionary convergences in wasp body shapes to provide the first evidence for morphological integration among insect wings, thorax and abdomen. Shapes of the fore-and hindwings, thorax and petiole (connecting abdomen and thorax) of 22 Vespidae species were analyzed using computerized tomography and geometric morphometrics. Results show a clear relationship between petiole and wings or thorax shapes, but not between wings and thorax. Wasps with elongated bodies have pointed wings, both features thought to improve flight maneuverability. In contrast, stouter species have rounded wings, which may allow for higher flight speeds. These integration patterns suggest that multiple selective regimes on flight performance, some of them biased towards maneuverability or maximal speed, drove the morphological diversity in Vespidae. The results also suggest that wing shapes evolved under constraints related to the body type they have to lift. The abdomen morphology is thus another factor to take into account to understand the flight performance of insects.

The genetic basis of a novel reproductive strategy in Sulawesi ricefishes: How modularity and a low number of loci shape pelvic brooding

“…Per definition, a module has a large correlation within itself but not with other modules (Klingenberg 2008). Module‐based trait evolution has been studied in several organisms, like wasps (Perrard 2020), mammals (Cheverud 1995; Marroig and Cheverud 2001; Goswami 2006; Zelditch et al. 2008; Porto et al.…”

“…Per definition, a module has a large correlation within itself but not with other modules (Klingenberg 2008). Module-based trait evolution has been studied in several organisms, like wasps (Perrard 2020), mammals (Cheverud 1995;Marroig and Cheverud 2001;Goswami 2006;Zelditch et al 2008;Porto et al 2009;Verity Bennett and Goswami 2010;Kelly and Sears 2011), snakes (Rhoda et al 2021), and fishes (Larouche et al 2015;Ornelas-García et al 2017;Larouche et al 2018). In the present study, we found strong correlations between traits that are involved in pelvic brooding in O. eversi and hints toward the presence of functional units in subsets of the analyzed traits in both parental species (Figs.…”

How to get rid of diploid bumblebee males – variability in wing size and shape does not allow within‐colony ploidy discrimination

“…Specifically, in both cases, diploid male wings resulted in a narrower and slightly longer configuration than haploid male wings. Wing veins support and protect the wing membrane and contribute to wing rigidity, and it has been demonstrated that wing shape has a role in the production of the aerodynamic forces during the flight and it is important in flight performance (Perrard et al, 2014;Perrard & Loope, 2015;Perrard, 2020). Moreover, Ray et al (2016) studied the effect of different wing shape on flight performance in Drosophila, and they found that pointed wings were related to a better manoeuvrability, whereas more rounded wings allowed flies to reach slightly higher speeds.…”

“…To investigate the influence of size on shape (i.e., allometry), we removed allometric variance from our database to test whether this improved ploidy discrimination (Yazdi, 2014;Perrard, 2020). At the overall level, allometric correction slightly reduced the correct discrimination between diploid and haploid males (from 93.2 to 85%) suggesting that wing size may have a certain, but not decisive, utility in ploidy discrimination.…”

Species morphospace boundary revisited through wing phenotypic variations of Antodynerus species (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Eumeninae) from the Indian subcontinent

“…To the best of our knowledge, no one has investigated the morphological integration of wasp wings. Perrard (2019) used computed tomography and GM to investigate the morphological Species-specific wing similarities and differences, validated by using 2B-PLS with 10,000 permutational analyses, and all are statistically significant at p < 0.01. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 17 frontiersin.org integration of 22 Vespidae species' forewings and hindwings, thorax, and petiole.…”