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Leg regeneration stunts wing growth and hinders flight performance in a stick insect (Sipyloidea sipylus).

ABSTRACT: Major morphological structures are sometimes produced not once, but twice. For example, stick insects routinely shed legs to escape a predator or tangled moult, and these legs are subsequently re-grown. Here, I show that in Sipyloidea sipylus, re-growth of a leg during development causes adults to have disproportionately smaller wings and increases wing loading. These morphological consequences of leg regeneration led to significant reductions in several biologically relevant measures of individual flight performance. This previously unrecognized tradeoff between legs and wings reveals the integrated nature of phasmid phenotypes, and I propose how this tradeoff may have shaped phasmid evolution.

SUBMITTER: Maginnis TL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1634783 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Leg regeneration stunts wing growth and hinders flight performance in a stick insect (Sipyloidea sipylus).

Maginnis Tara L TL

Proceedings. Biological sciences 20060701 1595

Major morphological structures are sometimes produced not once, but twice. For example, stick insects routinely shed legs to escape a predator or tangled moult, and these legs are subsequently re-grown. Here, I show that in Sipyloidea sipylus, re-growth of a leg during development causes adults to have disproportionately smaller wings and increases wing loading. These morphological consequences of leg regeneration led to significant reductions in several biologically relevant measures of individ ...[more]

PMID: 16790415

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