10 November

Origin of flight

Devonian emergence of life on land

First fossils are of dragonflys, but we know that they weren't the first to fly.

The wing perhaps as a radiator, to either gain or loose heat (in the case of insects, to gain heat energy).

Thoracic outpocketings that change functionallity over time.

Problems of aquatic insects in terms of maintain position within the stream gradient. At the present time flight allows those aquatic insects to fly upstream after hatching. Radiator might have provided flight capability which was enhanced by natural selection to produce functional wings.

There are a number of sites on the web concerned with insect flight.

Hooper Virtual Palaeontological Museum

Other modes of movement in the Arthropods

Vertical Movements--Cladocera and other zooplankters
diurnal migration
circadian rhythm