Evolution of the Insects

by David Grimaldi , Michael S. Engel

• ISBN13: 9780521821490
• ISBN10: 0521821495
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-05-16
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Insects are the most diverse group of organisms in the 3 billion-year history of life on Earth, and the most ecologically dominant animals on land. This book chronicles for the first time the complete evolutionary history of insects: their living diversity, relationships and 400 million years of fossils. Whereas other volumes have focused on either living species or fossils, this is the first comprehensive synthesis of all aspects of insect evolution. The book is illustrated with 955 photo- and electronmicrographs, drawings, diagrams, and field photos, many in full colour and virtually all of them original. The book will appeal to anyone engaged with insect diversity: professional entomologists and students, insect and fossil collectors, and naturalists.

Table of Contents

Section 1. Diversity and Evolution: Introduction

Species: their nature and number

How many species of insects?

Reconstructing evolutionary history

Section 2. Fossil Insects: Insect fossilization

Dating and ages

Major fossil Insect deposits

Section 3. Arthropods and the Origin of Insects: Onychophora: the velvet-worms

Tardigrada: the water-bears

Arthropoda: the jointed animals

Hexapoda: the six-legged arthropods

Section 4. The insects: Morphology of insects

Relationships among the insect orders

Section 5. Earliest insects: Archaeognatha: the bristletails

Zygentoma: the silverfish

†

Rhyniognatha

Section 6. Insects Take to the Skies: Pterygota, Wings, and flight

Ephemeroptera: the mayflies

†

Palaeodictyopterida: extinct beaked insects

Odonatoptera: dragonflies and early relatives

Neoptera

Section 7. The Polyneopterous Orders: Plecopterida

Orthopterida

Plecoptera: the stoneflies

Embiodea: the webspinners

Zoraptera: the Zorapterans

Orthoptera: the grasshoppers, crickets, and kin

Phasmatodea: the stick- and leaf insects

†

Titanoptera: the titanic crawlers

†

Caloneurodea: the Caloneurodeans

Dermaptera: the earwigs

Grylloblattodea: the ice crawlers

Mantophasmatodea: the African rock crawlers

Dictyoptera

Blattodea: the roaches

Citizen roach: the termites

Mantodea: the mantises

Section 8. The Paraneopteran Orders: Psocoptera: the 'bark'lice

Phthiraptera: the true lice

Fringe wings: Thysanoptera (thrips)

The sucking bugs: Hemiptera

Section 9. The Holometabola: problematic fossil orders

The origins of complete metamorphosis

On wings of lace: Neuropterida

Section 10. Coleoptera: early fossils and overview of past diversity

Archostemata

Adephaga

Myxophaga

Polyphaga

Strepsiptera: the enigmatic order

Section 11. Hymenoptera: Ants, Bees, and Other Wasps: The Euhymenoptera and parasitism

Aculeata

Evolution of insect sociality

Section 12. Antliophora: Scorpionflies, Flies, and Fleas: Mecopterida: mecopterans and relatives

Siphonaptera: the fleas

Evolution of ectoparasites and blood-feeders

Diptera: the true flies

Section 13. Amphiesmenoptera: The Caddisflies and Lepidoptera: Trichoptera: the caddisflies

Lepidoptera: the moths and butterflies

Section 14. Insects Become Modern: Cretaceous and Tertiary Periods: The Cretaceous

flowering of the world: the Angiosperm Radiations

Plant sex and insects: insect pollination

Radiations of Phytophagous insects

Austral arthropods: remnants of Gondwana?

Insects, mass extinctions, and the K/T boundary

The tertiary

Mammalian radiations

Pleistocene dispersal and species lifespans

Island faunas

Section 15. Epilogue: Why so many insect species?

The future

Glossary

References

Index.