Abstract

Coleoptera (beetles) is a massively successful order of insects, distinguished by their evolutionarily modified forewings called elytra. These structures are often presumed to have been a major driving force for the successful radiation of this taxon, by providing beetles with protection against a variety of harsh environmental factors. However, few studies have directly demonstrated the functional significance of the elytra against diverse environmental challenges. Here, we sought to empirically test the function of the elytra using Tribolium castaneum (the red flour beetle) as a model. We tested four categories of stress on the beetles: physical damage to hindwings, predation, desiccation, and cold shock. We found that, in all categories, the presence of elytra conferred a significant advantage compared to those beetles with their elytra experimentally removed. This work provides compelling quantitative evidence supporting the importance of beetle forewings in tolerating a variety of environmental stresses, and gives insight into how the evolution of elytra have facilitated the remarkable success of beetle radiation.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-6-2016

Notes/Citation Information

Published in Scientific Reports, v. 6, article no. 34813, p. 1-10.

© The Author(s) 2016

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1038/srep34813

Funding Information

This work was supported by a Miami University departmental grant to A.W.H. and D.M.L. and National Science Foundation to Y.T. (IOS 0950964 and IOS 1557936).

srep34813-s1.pdf (5772 kB)
Supplementary Information: Supplementary Figure S1-S2, Supplementary Table S1-S5, Movie S1-S2

srep34813-s2.mov (408 kB)
Supplementary Movie S1

srep34813-s3.mov (496 kB)
Supplementary Movie S2

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