ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2026
Mosaic phenotypic evolution underlies the adaptive success of water-surface colonization in Gerromorpha.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
24 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Understanding how the remarkable phenotypic diversity observed in organisms arises through shifts in macroevolutionary patterns and tempos is a fundamental challenge in evolutionary biology. Phenotypes often evolve in a mosaic pattern during adaptive transitions. For organisms that have invaded highly specialized habitats, such as the unique two-phase interface habitats (water surfaces), the macroevolutionary history of their phenotypic diversification remains only superficially understood. Semiaquatic bugs (Insecta: Heteroptera: Gerromorpha), which exhibit extensive habitat diversification and unparalleled phenotypic innovation, represent one of the most successful extant adaptive groups at this interface and provide an excellent system for study. By analyzing their adaptive transitions and phenotypic macroevolutionary history, we demonstrate that Gerromorpha experienced a single major adaptive transition from land to the water surface. Subsequently, semiaquatic bugs successfully colonized a wide range of distinct water-surface habitats. During this process, phenotypic space was explored under strong constraints and along pronounced mosaic trajectories; i.e., different body regions exhibited markedly distinct patterns of phenotypic space occupation and partitioning, as well as markedly different evolutionary rates. Furthermore, we showed that this mosaic pattern of phenotypic space occupation and rates of exploration had complex and critical effects on the invasion and colonization of water-surface habitats. Our study provides a typical case of macroevolutionary dynamics in species adapted to specialized air-water interface habitats, emphasizing the complex and significant roles of environmental context and functional demands in shaping patterns of phenotypic evolution.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.