Insect Flight: Origins & Aerodynamics

There are two competing hypotheses for the origin of flight in insects. One is that the first terrestrial hexapods had extensions coming out of their thorax that helped them glide between the tall vegetation of the time; an evolutionary path from simple paranota (unmoveable stubs) to an insect wing is relatively easy to imagine. Paranota are found in silverfish and are presumed to be homologous to the pterygote wing. This is the classical view, and was even mentioned in a less structured form by Darwin (not that that means anything). The best (though by no means conclusive) proof of this would be find an insect from those ancient times with a similar structure.

Insect Flight: Early Fossil Record & Physiology

The insect wing is not just a membrane that juts of the insect’s body. It’s a complex of membranes, veins, folds and flexures – looking at it laterally, it is in no way a simple two-dimensional structure. Even more mind-boggling is the wing base, with all sorts of sclerites as muscle attachment sites, plates, vein sources and the notal margin. It is to the wing base that all the power generated by the thoracic muscles goes, so it is also imperative to the way an insect flies.