Wings

[Pierre Zagatti]

Wings appeared in only one class of Arthropods: the insects.
These moving abilities allowed them to exploit totally new
ecological niches. At the same time, the Angiosperms began
to blossom and thus colonized many new niches. 
Both Angiosperms and insects found considerable adaptative fitness
in mutual relationships (hundreds of books on this 'co-evolution'),
then radiated in many different taxa and eventually became
the dominant groups of living organisms on earth.

I don't really know what is the purpose of wings in butterflies,
but I'm convinced that wings are the reason why there are so many
different insect species around us [or there -was- in a recent past :-(]

-- 
Pierre ZAGATTI
INRA Unite de Phytopharmacie et Mediateurs Chimiques
78026 Versailles Cedex
FRANCE
Tel: (33) 1 30 83 31 18
e-mail zagatti at versailles.inra.fr
http://www.jouy.inra.fr/papillon/