More than 80% of all animal life are insects and most of this diversity stems from a single monophyletic innovation ca. 320 million years ago known as holometaboly or complete metamorphosis. Holometabalous insects show a radical transformation of the body plan during a single pupal stage that occurs between a feeding-specialist larva and the winged adult, rather than an incremental transition with every nymphal moult as seen in hemimetabolous insects. The reasons as to why and how holometaboly emerged remain poorly understood.
- How has complete metamorphosis enabled insects to better exploit resources?
- What were the likely environmental drivers associated with key developmental innovations across the insect tree of life?
The research student will contribute to an ongoing project to collate and analyse key ecological trait data across the insect tree of life to test hypotheses using phylogenetic and/or functional diversity methods.
For further information contact:
Dr Richard Walters richard.walters@cec.lu.se;
Prof Niklas Wahlberg niklas.wahlberg@biol.lu.se