Belgica antarctica is a non biting midge found on antarctica. It is a member of Chironomidae and Diptera. Diptera are the true flies. They have two wings instead of four, distinguishing them from all other insects. The second pair of wings has been formed into halteres that act as gyroscopes and give exact information on the fly’s position while flying. Chironomids are a member of the Nematocera, the basal most suborder of flies. While they may be ancestral, the family is successful and has over 10,000 described species. An adaptation that sets Belgica apart from most midges is winglessness. Being flightless was both the group’s damnation and it’s salvation. It limited Belgica’s ability to disperse, to perhaps escape to some warm island paradise, but was also a necessary adaptation to their icy fate. Insect’s flight muscles need to be warm to function. Many insects can twitch their muscles on a chilly night to warm themselves up enough to fly, but it would take far too much energy to achieve such a feat in Antarctica. Belgica antarctica doesn’t waste precious resources to develop non-functional wings. Winglessness may prevent the tiny adults from being swept away by the wind to unfavorable locations. Other Chironomids found success due to their unique larvae, Bloodworms. One of three insect families that independently evolved hemoglobin, chironomid larvae can be found in many oxygen poor environments, such as polluted streams or stagnant water.
Unfortunately, a successful group means lots of species and therefore lots of relationships to resolve. It is difficult to find a consensus about the relationships within the Chironomidae. From the earliest diptera cladograms by Hennig himself to contemporary DNA analyses, attempts to make...
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...ncestral winged form on a storm front, then subsequently lost their wings through generations in antarctica.
However, this has not been the only suggestion of vicariance in gondowanan midges.
Allegrucci (2006) offers a well supported tree and an interesting hypothesis, but requires further research to confirm if the theories it presents are sound. A group that otherwise has little economic or medical importance, that’s unlikely to attract researchers or funding, may offer some exciting insight to the geographic history of the earth. While the close relationships between south american, australian, and african organisms are already well established, the limited terrestrial animals of antarctica meant that studies of extant species with gondwanan distribution rarely included Antarctica. Antarctic midges may be the missing link to tie antarctica into Gondwana.
Stringer, C. (2015). The many mysteries of Homo naledi [image], Retrieved June 12, 2016, from
Paul, Gregory S. (2002). "Looking for the True Bird Ancestor". Dinosaurs of the Air: The Evolution and Loss of Flight in Dinosaurs and Birds. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 171–224. ISBN 0-8018-6763-0.
Chimera Reemerge.” Pacific News Service. 6 December 1995. Newspaper online. Available at http://www.pacificnews.org/jinn/stories/columns/heresies/950612-animal.html. Internet. Accessed 10 December 2003.
form of a bird usually a falcon and fly around in the world of the living
The species A. afarensis is one of the better known australopithecines, with regards to the number of samples attributed to the species. From speculations about their close relatives, the gorilla and chimpanzee, A. afarensis’ probable social structure can be presumed. The species was named by Johanson and Taieb in 1973. This discovery of a skeleton lead to a heated debate over the validity of the species. The species eventually was accepted by most researchers as a new species of australopithecine and a likely candidate for a human ancestor.
Hopkins, in the east Kootenay region of British Columbia. I. Life cycle, brood development and flight periods. The Canadian Entomologist 94: 531- 538
Fossil evidence suggests that the Cathartid (New World) vultures have been around for quite some time with two fossil species dated from the early Oligocene (about 35 million years ago). During the Pliocene and Pleistocene (about 2 million years ago) th...
Han, J., Zhang, Z. F., & Liu, J. N. (2008). A preliminary note on the dispersal of the Cambrian Burgess Shale-type faunas. Gondwana Research, (1), 269-276. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2007.09.001
They are very popular because they have a relatively short life cycle, which lasts about 9 days. This makes it easy to observe multiple generations in a short period of time. The fly’s life cycle consists of egg, larvae, pupa, and adult stages. At each of these stages of development, Drosophila exhibits different phonotypical identities and mutations. The flies that were crossed contained a genetic mutation called apterous. Apterous can be observed by looking for flied that are missing wings. Flies with apterous will not have any wings. If this mutation is sex linked, it is expected that the male population will only be wingless in the F2 generation. If the mutational is autosomal, it is expected that the mutation to normal fly ratio is
extinct for 4000 years, it is difficult to tell exactly what they lived on, but
Works Cited Bates, D. (1957, December 17). Letter from Roy Wilkins. Little Rock, Arkansas, United States of America. Beals, M. P. (1994). The Species of the World.
The firefly is sometimes referred to as a “lightening bug.” There are about 2,000 firefly species; for the most part they live in warm but humid environments. Fireflies are neither flies nor bugs; they are actually part of the beetle family. Fireflies are from the Animalia kingdom, and are of the Lampyridae family. Fireflies hibernate over winter by burrowing underground, under water or settle under the bark of a tree some can live for several years by hibernating as larva during the winter.
Darwin’s observations from the islands made him want to come up with some explanation to why this occurred. He began to do research of each the species that had lived on these islands and observe all of the characteristics that had. He noticed that the islands h...
Insects are the most diverse group of organisms on the planet. They occupy most of the habitat in the world. Insects have served as a model group of organisms for tackling many biological queries. Butterflies (Class: Insecta; Order: Lepidoptera) have been used as a model for studies on ecology, development and population dynamics. Most of the species are highly seasonal and some have very restricted habitats. Butterflies are good indicators of climate and help us understand fluctuations in seasonal changes. They require specific ecological conditions for their growth and development. Monitoring butterflies helps us understand the overall diversity of a habitat as they are directly dependent on other factors such as availability of host plants and nectar plants. They also play a very significant role in