Planet of the Bugs: Evolution and the Rise of Insects

by Scott Richard Shaw

  CHAPTER 9: CRETACEOUS BLOOM AND DOOM

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  Desalle, R., J. Gatesy, W. Wheeler, and D. Grimaldi. “DNA Sequences from a Fossil Termite in Oligo-Miocene Amber and Their Phylogenetic Implications.” Science 257 (1992): 1933–36.

  Doyle, James A. “Molecular and Fossil Evidence on the Origin of Angiosperms.” Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 40 (2012): 301–26.

  Grandcolas, P., and P. Deleporte. “The Origin of Protistan Symbionts in Termites and Cockroaches: A Phylogenetic Perspective.” Cladistics 12 (1996): 93–98.

  Grimaldi, David. “A Fossil Mantis (Insecta: Mantodea) in Cretaceous Amber of New Jersey, with Comments on the Early History of the Dictyoptera.” American Museum Novitates 3024 (1997): 1–11.

  Lo, N., G. Tokuda, H. Watanabe, H. Rose, M. Slaytor, K. Maekawa, C. Bandi, and H. Noda. “Evidence from Multiple Gene Sequences Indicates That Termites Evolved from Wood-Feeding Cockroaches.” Current Biology 10 (2000): 801–4.

  Raup, David M. The Nemesis Affair: A Story of the Death of Dinosaurs and the Ways of Science. New York: W. W. Norton, 1986.

  Schmidt, Justin O. “Hymenoptera Venoms: Striving Toward the Ultimate Defense Against Vertebrates.” In Insect Defenses: Adaptive Mechanisms and Strategies of Prey and Predators, edited by David L. Evans and Justin O. Schmidt, 387–419. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990.

  Thorne, Barbara L. “A Case for Ancestral Transfer of Symbionts between Cockroaches and Termites.” Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B 241 (1990): 37–41.

  . “Evolution of Eusociality in Termites.” Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 28 (1997): 27–54.

  Thorne, Barbara L., and James M. Carpenter. “Phylogeny of the Dictyoptera.” Systematic Entomology 17 (1992): 253–68.

  Thorne, Barbara L., David A. Grimaldi, and K. Krishna. “Early Fossil History of Termites.” In Termites: Evolution, Sociality, Symbioses, Ecology, edited by T. Abe, D. E. Bignell, and M. Higashi, 77–93. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 2000.

  Thorne, Barbara L., and James F. A. Traniello. “Comparative Social Biology of Basal Taxa of Ants and Termites.” Annual Review of Entomology 48 (2003): 283–306.

  CHAPTER 10: CENOZOIC REFLECTIONS

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  Hutchinson, E. E. “Homage to Santa Rosalia or Why Are There So Many Kinds of Animals?” American Naturalist 93 (1959): 145–159.

  Johanson, Donald C., and Maitland A. Edey. Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1981.

  Labandeira, Conrad C. “The Fossil Record of Insect Extinction: New Approaches and Future Directions.” American Entomologist 51 (2005): 14–29.

  Lovejoy, C. O. “Reexamining Human Origins in Light of Ardipithecus ramidus.” Science 326 (2009): 74–78.

  Shaw, Scott R. “Essay on the Evolution of Adult-Parasitism in the Subfamily Euphorinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae).” Proceedings of the Russian Entomological Society, St. Petersburg 75 (2004): 1–15.

  White, T. D., B. Asfaw, Y. Beyene, Y. Haile-Selassie, C. Lovejoy, G. Suwa, and G. WoldeGabriel. “Ardipithecus ramidus and the Paleobiology of Early Hominids.” Science 326 (2009): 64–86.

  POSTSCRIPT: THE BUGGY UNIVERSE HYPOTHESIS

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  Gould, Stephen Jay. “The Evolution of Life on the Earth.” Scientific American 271 (1994): 85–91.

  Greene, Brian. The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory. New York: Vintage Books, 1999.

  Orgel, Leslie E. “The Origin of Life on the Earth.” Scientific American 271 (1994): 77–83.

  Rebek, Julius Jr. “Synthetic Self-Replicating Molecules.” Scientific American 271 (1994): 48–55.

  Sagan, Carl. “The Search for Extraterrestrial Life.” Scientific American 271 (1994): 93–99.

  Silk, Joseph. A Short History of the Universe. New York: Scientific American Library, 1997.

  Taylor, G. Jeffrey. 1994. “The Scientific Legacy of Apollo.” Scientific American 271 (1994): 40–47.

  Taylor, S. R. “The Origin of the Moon.” American Scientist 75 (1987): 469–77.

  Yates, F. Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1964.

  Index

  Page numbers in italics refer to figures. The abbreviation “pl.” refers to color plates.

  abdomen, xi, 11, 60, 76, 80, 85, pl. 8

  abundance, 9, 178–79

  Aculeata, 160

  adaptations: to extreme environments, 3; hypermetamorphic, 143–45; novel, 113

  adaptive radiation, 145, 156, 180–81

  agriculture, 182

  air dragons, 87, 89–90, 94, 99, 113, 131, 136

  algae, 47–48, 51, 106, 108, 126, 174–76

  alkaloids, 121, 159, 206n15

  allergies, 167–8

  Allosaurus, 134–35, 209n4

  Alvarez, Luis, 92, 168

  Amazon: basin, 171, 176, 184, 186; River, 155, 171; societies, 164

  amino acids, 24, 188

  amphibians, 3, 18, 94, 120–21, 126, 173, 181, 203n1 (ch. 4); age of, 53; Carboniferous, 73, 76, 84, 90; Devonian, 55–56; eggs of, 87; first, 55; keyhole, 75–76; tadpoles of, 87

  anal trophallaxis, 148

  Andes, 155, 170–71, 174, 176, 185

  angiosperms, xiii, 2, 156–57, 159, 165–66

  animals: complex, 92; exoskeletal, 26; first land, 36; land, 37; multicellular, 20, 23, 29, 191; terrestrial, 35, 40; vertebrate, 19; warm-blooded, 94

  annelids, 26–27, 30, 43, 58

  Anomalocaris, 19, 136

  anoxia, 97

  Antarctica, 24, 65, 112, 155

  antennae, xi, 45, 59, 67, 117

  antifreeze, 3, 65

  ants, 1, 3, 15, 75, 117, 128, 160, 162–64, 166–67, 176, 179, 191; army, 163; bullet, 212n9; Formica, 14; gigantic mutated, 92; super-colonies of, 9; weaver, 212n7; worker, 100, 205n9

  Apatosaurus, 132, 154, 208n2

  aphids, 102, 163, 166

  Apidae, 10

  aposematism, 14, 84, 121, 151, pl. 7–8

  appendages: feeding, 19, 45, 117; filamentous, 76; jointed, 11, 20, 27, 29–30, 31, 37, 93; taillike, 143–44

  aquatic insects, x, 3, 79–80, 87, 97–99, 106–9, 117, 124–25, 129, 143, 181, 204n2, 206n16

  arachnids, 41

  Archaeognatha, 67, 68, 205n5

  Archaeopteryx, 149–50, 210–11nn12–13

  Arthropoda, 11, 20

  arthropods, 11, 17, 20, 27, 31, 37, 188, 190–92; age of, 19; Cambrian, 16, 19–20, 23, 27; characteristics of, 31, 93; defined, 30; Devonian, 54, 56; first, x, 17, 27; footprints of, 40; giant, 92–93; hexapod, 67–68; in film, 92–93; microscopic, 75; molting of, 61; predatory, 19, 173; scavenging, 69; Silurian, xi, 37; soil-dwelling, 58, 65, 74, 79; terrestrial, 49

  assassin bugs, 126–27, pl. 6

  asteroids, xiii, 15, 23, 96, 99, 113, 154, 168–69, 172, 190

  astrobiology, 189

  atmosphere: earth’s, 24–25; oxygen rich, 188

  Australopithecus, 213n1

  axillary sclerites, 88

  bacteria, 5–6, 18–19, 23–24, 26, 47, 64, 148, 176, 189, 191

  ballast stones, 107

  bark: beetles, 74; lice, 74–75, 110–11, 179, 208n14; tree, 74, 110, pl. 4

  bat flies, 13, 13, 181

  bats, xii, 13, 81,
85, 181, 186

  beaches, 40–41, 45, 52–53, 55

  beaks, 82, 98, 100, 103, 116, 126

  bee flies, 157

  bees, 6, 10, 15, 74–75, 89, 117, 128, 154, 157, 160, 162, 164, 167, 169, 179, 183, 211n5; Bombus, 10; bumble, 10; carpenter, 10; first, 152; honey, 10; primitive, 162

  beetles, 5, 11, 89, 94–95, 109–10, 114, 118, 121–22, 129, 140, 151, 156–57, 169, 176, 179, 183, 191, 205n6; bark, 74; beaver parasite, 13; click, xiii; dung-feeding, 1, 121; feather-winged, 103; first, 95, 110; flat-headed, 74; Goliath, 86–87, 131; ground, 10; grubs of, 124, 138, 140; Hercules, 131; inordinate fondness for, 192–93; June, 1; Jurassic, xiii; ladybug, 1; leaf, xiii, pl. 10; long-horned, viii, x–xiv; metallic, xiii; parasitic, 13; Permian, xii, 15, 94; rhinoceros, 132; scarab, xiii; subterranean, 3; weevil, xiii; wood-boring, xii–xiii, 74–75, 109, 135, 179

  behavior: defensive, 39, 147, 179; egg-laying, 141, 160; lekking, 204n1 (ch. 5); nocturnal, 42, 89, 123–24; parasitic, 136–46; predatory, 136; social, 128; territorial, 164

  Berlese funnel, 65

  bias: arthropodan, 40; human-centrist, 18, 38, 55

  big bang, 37, 185

  bilateral symmetry, 30

  binomial nomenclature, 8

  biodegradation, 2

  biodiversity, 173; crisis, 183

  bioindicators, 5

  biological species concept, 6

  biomass: arthropod, 64; host, 146; insect, 3, 128; plant, 75, 90; vertebrate, 3, 128

  biophilia, 154

  bipedalism, 61

  bird lice, 13, 167, 181

  birds, xii, 3, 15, 18, 73–75, 80–81, 84–85, 116, 120, 130, 165, 167, 169, 174, 181, 186; first, 116, 122, 149–51; migratory, 116; nests of, 74, 151; oldest-known, 149; shore, 114

  Blattaria, 89, 99, 122

  blood, 78, 106, 135, 141–43, 206n2

  body: forms, 27, 42, 59, 143; lice, 2; parts, 11; plans, 27; segmented, 93; size, 62–63, 103

  Bombyliidae, 157

  book: gills, 42; lice, 110; lungs, 42

  brachiopods, 39, 43, 54, 95, 207n4

  Braconidae, 10, 128, 144

  brains, 29, 59, 134, 166

  branches, 57, 103, 120, 162, 172, 175

  bristletails, xi, 61, 67–69, 68, 76, 79, 129, 146–47, 175, 205n5, 205n8

  bromeliads, xi, 3, 22, 89, 175, 181, 186

  brontosaurs, 117, 127, 132–35, 208n2

  buggy universe hypothesis, 191–92

  bugs, 11, 15, 89, 94, 151, 163, 179, 191; assassin, 126–27, pl. 6; bed, 126; giant water, 126; hyperdiversity of, xiv; plant, 126, 157; royal palm, 1; seed, 126; stink, 126, 154; true, xiv, 11, 118, 122, 126–27; velvety shore, 1

  Burgess Shale, 18, 45

  burrows, 25–26, 29

  butterflies, 5–7, 11, 15, 70, 84, 89, 105, 154, 157, 159, 169, 191; Altinote, 184, pl. 8; birdwing, 1; brush-footed, 60; first, 152, 158; hyperdiversity of, xiv; malachite, pl. 1; monarch, 6–7; nymphalid, pl. 1, pl. 8; papilionid, 144; viceroy, 6–7

  caddisflies, 11, 95, 99, 106–9, 117–18, 122, 208n12

  calcium carbonate, 23–24, 26

  Calymene celebra, 38–39

  Cambrian: arthropods, x, 16, 173; Early, 30, 45; explosion, 20, 23, 25, 80, 94, 190; fossils, 25; Late, 27, 33–34, 54; macrofauna, 26; period, x, 17–35, 37, 39, 56, 96, 181; seas, 27; shallow marine communities, 22; trilobites, 21, 27, 32–35

  Campodeidae, 66

  camouflage, 14, 84, pl. 1–4

  Carabidae, 10

  carbon, 23, 188

  carbon dioxide, 23–24, 49, 75, 79, 85, 96–97

  Carboniferous: atmosphere, 79; beetles, 205n6; climate, 78; coal-forming swamps, 17, 73–75, 79; Early, 75; Gnetales, 156; horsetails, 75, 95; Late, 75, 80–82, 87, 89–90; mayflies, 73; Pennsylvanian subperiod of, 71, 76; period, xi–xii, 15, 60, 69, 71–91, 93, 96, 99, 146, 173, 175–76, 181, 204n2; plant species, 73–74, 95, 205n13; seed ferns, 73, 95

  cascade effect, 183

  castes, 147, 148, 163–64; defined, 147; reproductive, 147; soldier, 147, 163; worker, 147, 163

  caterpillars, 61, 105, 120, 144, 148, 157–58, 161–63, 176, 179, 181, 184; hemileucine, pl. 11; inchworm, 1

  caves, 3, 46, 89, 168

  cells: bee, 162; eukaryotic, 24; giant, 143; overwintering, 116

  cellulose, 49–50, 75, 102, 109, 138, 147

  Cenozoic: dinosaurs, 174; era, xiv, 15, 170–86; forests, 74

  centipedes, 11, 20, 30, 45–46, 50, 56, 62, 84, 90, 173, 175, 206n16

  cephalopods, 33–34, 41, 54

  Cerambycidae, viii

  cerci, 66, 76

  Cercopidae, pl. 7

  chaos, 2, 168

  charcoal, 63

  chelicerae, 43

  chemical: communication, 164; defenses, 84, 102, 121, 158–60, 206n15, pl. 7–8; detection, 59; pheromones, 78, 164

  chert, 63, 68

  child labor, 164

  chimpanzees, 172

  chironomid midges, 4

  chlorophyll, 174, 192, 215n1

  chordates, 27

  Chrysomelidae, pl. 10

  cicadas, ix, 102, 120–21; periodical, 1

  circulation, 26, 49, 60, 141

  clams, 39

  classification, 10–11

  climate: arid terrestrial, 113; change, 97, 103, 112–13, 168, 185, 190; cool, 176; dry, 96; east African, 172

  cloud forest, 66, 171, 173–77, pl. 10

  coal, 15, 17, 73–76, 205n7; swamps, 79, 84, 90, 176

  cockroaches, 1, 11, 61, 89–90, 99–100, 114, 118, 122, 147; age of, 89; Carboniferous, 75, 84, 206n17; ovipositor-bearing, 89, 206n17; social, 147; subterranean, 3, 89; wood, 75, 90; wood-eating, 75, 90, 110, 147

  cocoons, 106

  coevolution, 2, 156–57, 159–60, 165–66, 192

  cohesion, 204n2 (ch. 4)

  cold-bloodedness, 14, 77–78

  Coleoptera, 11, 109, 111, 122, 205n6, pl. 10

  Collembola, 4, 63–65, 64, 66

  colonization: insect, 112; of land, 37–38, 40, 152, 173, 190–91; of plants, 113, 157; of ponds, 87; of streams, 106–9, 112

  coloration, 82–84; aposematic, 14, 121, 151, pl. 8; cryptic, 84, 121–22, pl. 2–4; disruptive, 78, pl. 1; warning, 14, 78, 84, 121, pl. 7–8

  comets, 23, 99, 168

  communities: aquatic insect, 107; arthropod, 56; big animal, 154; dinosaur, 166; first forest, xi, 57–58, 63; first terrestrial, 36–51, 181; flower-associated insect, 155; insect, 51; land, 95; land-based, 37; land plant, xi, 56–57, 69; of life, 22–23, 37, 95; marine reef, 69; mixing of, 112; near-shore terrestrial, 97, 112; ocean, 69, 95; shallow marine, 22, 25; tree-like plant, 69; wetland, 112; wood-consuming, 75

  competition, 99, 104, 112, 144; for marine niches, 59; for sunlight, 78, 174

  complexity, 154, 173, 181, 185, 189; ecological, 95

  complex metamorphosis, 91, 95, 111–12, 181, 205n6, 207n8

  conifers, 73, 82, 90, 95, 117, 120, 127, 129, 134, 156, 204n4 (ch. 5); redwood-like, 151

  constellations, 171, 192

  continental drift, 23–25, 96, 108, 111–13, 154–55, 168, 190, 208n15

  Cooksonia, 48, 57

  cooperative brood care, 147, 163

  coprolites, 82, 120, 205nn13–14

  coral reefs, 38–40, 43, 53–54, 111

  corals, 26; Devonian, 53–54, 56; first, 26; Petoskey, 53, 95; rugose, 38; Silurian, 38–39; tabulate, 38, 54

  cordaites plants, 73, 82, 204n4 (ch. 5)

  Corydalidae, pl. 9

  Costa Rica, viii, ix

  coumarins, 159

  courtship, xii, 14, 44, 78, 80, 104, 125

  crabs, 28, 30, 192

  Cretaceous: continents, 155; Early, xiii, 15, 140, 154–56, 161; extinctions, 101, 182; forests, 155; India, 155; Late, xiii, 133, 157, 168, 172; Middle, 157; period, xii, 116, 152–69; plant communities, 166; plant toxins, 166; South America, 155

  crickets, ix, 3, 11, 61, 95, 99–100, 118, 122

  crinoids, 95

  crochets, 158

  crustaceans,
31, 34–35, 54

  crypsis, 14, 101, 121–23, 123, 151, pl. 2–4, pl. 12

  cryptic species, 8–9

  cryptobiosis, 4

  Cryptocercidae, 147

  Curculionidae, 10

  cuticles, 20, 26, 46, 49, 63, 79, 143, 145, 158

  cyanobacteria, 26, 49

  cyanogenic glycosides, 159

  cycads, 95, 117, 120, 124, 129, 134, 156

  damselflies, 98, 107, 117, 122, 176

  Darwin, Charles, 165

  debris: impact, 113, 169; organic, 67, 74, 107–8; volcanic, 117; woody, 175

  decomposition, 74–75, 89–90, 108, 110, 140, 149, 205n5, 205n7

  defenses: chemical, 84, 121, pl. 8, pl. 11; secondary, 121

  defensive behavior, 39, 147, 179

  dehydration, 4, 65

  Dermaptera, 124

  deserts, 3, 42, 65, 151

  desiccation, 4, 65, 116, 140, 158

  detritivores, 2, 90

  development: delayed, 180; metamorphic, 93; slow, 100; wasp, 146; wing, 104

  Devonian: coral reef ecosystems, 54, 69; Early, xi, 15, 48, 57, 175; fish diversity, 54; Gilboa forest, 57, 67; Late, 58, 67, 69, 75, 80; lungfish, 52; myriapods, 62; period, 17, 37, 42, 50–69, 96, 146, 175, 181; scorpions, 56, 62, 173; soils, 59, 64, 69; springtails, 63

  digestive system, 26, 60, 102, 105, 143, 145

  Dimetrodon, 93–94

  dinosaurs, xiv, 18, 94, 96–97, 99, 116–17, 132–35, 154, 165–69, 172–73, 180, 191, 212n10; age of, 18; bird-sized, 118; carnivorous, 119–20, 133–35, 154; duck-billed, 154–55, 167, 169; feathered, 15, 116, 122, 129, 149–51, 167, 174, 176; first, 115, 118–20; flying, 81, 149–51; herds of, 134–35, 154; insectivorous, 120–22; Jurassic, xiii, 132–35, 149–51; long-necked, 120, 132–33; nest-marauding, 167; plant-feeding, 120–21, 166–67; tree-dwelling, 119, 149–50; Triassic, 118–27, 129, 150; warm-blooded, 111, 133

  Diplodocus, 132, 151, 154, 209n2

  diplopods, 46

  Diplura, 65–68, 66, 175

  Diptera, 11, 108–9, 111, 122

  diseases, 148, 166–67, 183, 206n2

  dispersal, 80, 104, 148

  diversity, 181; arthropod, 29; dinosaur, 121; insect, 1–3, 5, 94, 121, 180–82; ordinal, 94, 206n3; plant, 192

  DNA, 6–7, 48, 136, 191

  dobsonflies, 118, 122, 124–25, pl. 9

  dragonflies, 11, 79–81, 84–87, 99, 107; immature, 93