Insect flight

Common card · No. 396054

Insects are the only group of invertebrates that have evolved wings and flight. Insects first flew in the Carboniferous, some 300 to 350 million years ago, making them the first animals to evolve flight. Wings may have evolved from appendages on the sides of existing limbs, which already had nerves, joints, and muscles used for other purposes. These may initially have been used for sailing on water, or to slow the rate of descent when gliding. One insect order, Odonata, has flight muscles attached directly to the wings. In other winged insects, flight muscles attach to the thorax, which make it vibrate to induce the wings to beat. Of these insects, some (flies and some beetles) have achieved very high wingbeat frequencies through the evolution of an "asynchronous" nervous system, in which the thorax oscillates faster than the rate of nerve impulses. Not all insects are capable of flight. A number of apterous insects have secondarily lost their wings through evolution, while other more basal...

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