Body plan innovation in treehoppers through the evolution of an extra wing-like appendage.
Prud'homme B, Minervino C, Hocine M, Cande JD, Aouane A, Dufour HD, Kassner VA, Gompel N.
Body plans, which characterize the anatomical organization of animal groups of high taxonomic rank, often evolve by the reduction or loss of appendages (limbs in vertebrates and legs and wings in insects, for example). In contrast, the addition of new features is extremely rare and is thought to be heavily constrained, although the nature of the constraints remains elusive. Here we show that the treehopper (Membracidae) 'helmet' is actually an appendage, a wing serial homologue on the first thoracic segment. This innovation in the insect body plan is an unprecedented situation in 250 Myr of insect evolution. We provide evidence suggesting that the helmet arose by escaping the ancestral repression of wing formation imparted by a member of the Hox gene family, which sculpts the number and pattern of appendages along the body axis. Moreover, we propose that the exceptional morphological diversification of the helmet was possible because, in contrast to the wings, it escaped the stringent functional requirements imposed by flight. This example illustrates how complex morphological structures can arise by the expression of ancestral developmental potentials and fuel the morphological diversification of an evolutionary lineage.
Nature. 2011 May 5;473(7345):83-6.
Innovative anatomy has always been a thought of mine and today's paper addresses that as it naturally occurs in the TREEHOPPER!! From the abstract, I cannot tell you how they discovered what they discovered, but the money shot is: "complex morphological structures can arise by the expression of ancestral developmental potentials and fuel the morphological diversification of an evolutionary lineage." Amazing!
If you translate this to humans it could be possible to create new appendages for the future! The transition could be like that for Calisto, formerly of the Morlocks:
TRI-EYE!!
SLUSHH!!
Body plans, which characterize the anatomical organization of animal groups of high taxonomic rank, often evolve by the reduction or loss of appendages (limbs in vertebrates and legs and wings in insects, for example). In contrast, the addition of new features is extremely rare and is thought to be heavily constrained, although the nature of the constraints remains elusive. Here we show that the treehopper (Membracidae) 'helmet' is actually an appendage, a wing serial homologue on the first thoracic segment. This innovation in the insect body plan is an unprecedented situation in 250 Myr of insect evolution. We provide evidence suggesting that the helmet arose by escaping the ancestral repression of wing formation imparted by a member of the Hox gene family, which sculpts the number and pattern of appendages along the body axis. Moreover, we propose that the exceptional morphological diversification of the helmet was possible because, in contrast to the wings, it escaped the stringent functional requirements imposed by flight. This example illustrates how complex morphological structures can arise by the expression of ancestral developmental potentials and fuel the morphological diversification of an evolutionary lineage.
Nature. 2011 May 5;473(7345):83-6.
Why is this cool?
When people think of cool looking characters, some immediately jump to lame characters like Superman, Spider-man, Wolverine, or Spawn. These characters are just humans in different costumes! Very few characters with awesome anatomy penetrate into popular culture. You may think Hawkman, but he is wearing a pair of wings. Angel, on the other hand, is a real winged hero!Innovative anatomy has always been a thought of mine and today's paper addresses that as it naturally occurs in the TREEHOPPER!! From the abstract, I cannot tell you how they discovered what they discovered, but the money shot is: "complex morphological structures can arise by the expression of ancestral developmental potentials and fuel the morphological diversification of an evolutionary lineage." Amazing!
If you translate this to humans it could be possible to create new appendages for the future! The transition could be like that for Calisto, formerly of the Morlocks:
At one time she was just some Joan Jett knockoff and, now, she has TENTACLES!!
Here are some other characters with amazing anatomies:
SHUMA-GORATH!!
LADY STYX!!
AI APAEC!!
