Jules Poirier lectures in British Columbia

[WickedDyno]

In article <39c7ba5e_1 at news1.prserv.net>, scott at home.com wrote:

> In <amg39.REMOVETHIS-07E97B.17255618092000 at newsstand.cit.cornell.edu>, 
> WickedDyno <amg39.REMOVETHIS at cornell.edu.invalid> writes:
> >In article <39c681a0_4 at news1.prserv.net>, scott at home.com wrote:
> >
> >> In <8q44v4$g3b$1 at news.duke.edu>, mturner at snipthis.acpub.duke.edu (mel 
> >> turner) writes:
> >> >In article 
> >> ><amg39.REMOVETHIS-AAA43C.23363617092000 at newsstand.cit.cornell.edu>, 
> >> >amg39.REMOVETHIS at cornell.edu.invalid wrote...
> >> >>In article <39c58d4f_1 at news1.prserv.net>, scott at home.com wrote:
> >> >>> In 
> >> >>> <amg39.REMOVETHIS-62773D.21591816092000 at newsstand.cit.cornell.edu>,
> >> >>>  
> >> >[snip]
> >> >
> >> >>> >> 14.Describe one insect that was transitional between a 
> >> >>> >> non-flying
> >> >>> >> insect and a flying insect.
> >> >>> >
> >> >>> >A gliding insect.
> >> >>> >
> >> >>> Amazing!
> >> >>> 
> >> >>> So not only is flying a convergent feature,
> >> >>> but so is the actual transition from gliding
> >> >>> to flying.
> >> >
> >> >How do you get "convergence" from that? As far as we know, flight in 
> >> >insects arose just once, in the early ancestors of the huge group 
> >> >Pterygota. He's just saying that the origin of insect flight would 
> >> >have involved a gliding intermediate stage [much as it would in the 
> >> >three separate origins of vertebrate flight]. 
> >> >
> >> That's my point.
> >> 
> >> Four separate origins of flight, and all
> >> arrived at by the exact same intermediate
> >> stage.  Amazing.
> >
> >What other intermediate stage could there be?  If you don't quite have 
> >enough wing surface to fly, what can you do?  Well, glide, of course.  
> >And gliding is a useful adaptation.  Not quite as useful as true flight, 
> >in general, though.
> >
> This is the evidence?
> 
> 
> >What other intermediate stage could there be?
> 
> and
> 
> >And gliding is a useful adaptation.
> 
> 
> All four separate origins of flight must have
> had a precursor "intermediate" stage of gliding
> because we can conceive of no other way to
> arrive at flight from non-flight.
> 
> In each case of the origin of flight, gliding would
> have been a useful adaptation on the way to flight.
> The evidence for this is...
> 
> ..we can conceive of no other way to arrive at
> flight from non-flight.

I would have agreed yesterday.  Today I read some other responses to you 
about hypotheses that insect flight evolved from water surface-buzzing 
or something similar -- I don't fully understand that, but it offers an 
alternative.

Can you think of an alternative?

-- 
|          Andrew Glasgow <amg39(at)cornell.edu>         |
| SCSI is *NOT* magic.  There are *fundamental technical |
| reasons* why it is necessary to sacrifice a young goat |
| to your SCSI chain now and then. -- John Woods         |