AZC 46 Supplement (2003)

Issue:

VOL NA

Keywords:

Flight, morphology, biomechanics, palaeontology, wings, Palaeodictyoptera, Megasecoptera, Palaeontinidae, Mesogereonidae

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Reconstructing insect flight performance from fossil evidence

• Robin J. WOOTTON

Abstract:

Some structural characters and morphometric variables – size, body shape and proportions, wing shape and structure – that appear in insects to be linked with flight performance, are discussed and evaluated, and methods are described for deriving these from fossil material. Some wing design categories associated with particular flight techniques and capabilities are identified. Their use in reconstructing the flight performance of extinct insects is illustrated with reference to Carboniferous palaeodictyopteroids and Mesozoic palaeontinoid Hemiptera.