ArticleCurrent biology : CB2016
Diversity in Morphology and Locomotory Behavior Is Associated with Niche Expansion in the Semi-aquatic Bugs.
Article in Current biology : CB, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed.
- Mosaic phenotypic evolution underlies the adaptive success of water-surface colonization in Gerromorpha.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Effect of the mining pipeline on habitat quality and the diversity of semiaquatic bug communities (Heteroptera: Gerromorpha) in streams of the eastern Amazon.Environmental monitoring and assessment · 2026Article
- Distinct kinematics and micromorphology for symmetrical rowing and sliding on water in ripple bugs and water striders.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Interfacial vortex recapture enhances thrust in tiny water skaters.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- The discovery of an overseen pygmy backswimmer in Europe (Heteroptera, Nepomorpha, Pleidae).Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Group mating in Cretaceous water striders.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
- Tiny amphibious insects use tripod gait for seamless transition across land, water, and duckweed.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Limb loss and specialized leg dynamics in tiny water-walking insects.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Locomotory Behavior of Water Striders with Amputated Legs.Biomimetics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Two different jumping mechanisms of water striders are determined by body size.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Transcriptome-based Phylogeny of the Semi-aquatic Bugs (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Gerromorpha) Reveals Patterns of Lineage Expansion in a Series of New Adaptive Zones.Molecular biology and evolution · 2022Article
- Environmental and Seasonal Effects on Gerridae Assemblages (Heteroptera: Gerromorpha) from a Stream in Brazilian Savannah.Neotropical entomology · 2022Article
- Leg length and bristle density, both necessary for water surface locomotion, are genetically correlated in water striders.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022Article
- Article
- Water strider females use individual experience to adjust jumping behaviour to their weight within physical constraints of water surface tension.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Interfacial phenomena of water striders on water surfaces: a review from biology to biomechanics.Zoological research · 2020Review
- Superhydrophobicity and size reduction enabled Halobates (Insecta: Heteroptera, Gerridae) to colonize the open ocean.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Cooption of the pteridine biosynthesis pathway underlies the diversification of embryonic colors in water striders.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2019Article
- Fluctuating selection strength and intense male competition underlie variation and exaggeration of a water strider's male weapon.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2019Article
- TheProceedings. Biological sciences · 2018Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
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Abstract
Acquisition of new ecological opportunities is a major driver of adaptation and species diversification [1-4]. However, how groups of organisms expand their habitat range is often unclear [3]. We study the Gerromorpha, a monophyletic group of heteropteran insects that occupy a large variety of water surface-associated niches, from small puddles to open oceans [5, 6]. Due to constraints related to fluid dynamics [7-9] and exposure to predation [5, 10], we hypothesize that selection will favor high speed of locomotion in the Gerromorpha that occupy water-air interface niches relative to the ancestral terrestrial life style. Through biomechanical assays and phylogenetic reconstruction, we show that only species that occupy water surface niches can generate high maximum speeds. Basally branching lineages with ancestral mode of locomotion, consisting of tripod gait, achieved increased speed on the water through increasing midleg length, stroke amplitude, and stroke frequency. Derived lineages evolved rowing as a novel mode of locomotion through simultaneous sculling motion almost exclusively of the midlegs. We demonstrate that this change in locomotory behavior significantly reduced the requirement for high stroke frequency and energy expenditure. Furthermore, we show how the evolution of rowing, by reducing stroke frequency, may have eliminated the constraint on body size, which may explain the evolution of larger Gerromorpha. This correlation between the diversity in locomotion behaviors and niche specialization suggests that changes in morphology and behavior may facilitate the invasion and diversification in novel environments.
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