The Sympatric Origin of Phytophagous Insects

摘要: Global estimates of the number insect species now range from 10 to 30 million and tally keeps growing. This means that roughly 75–95% all living eukaryotic organisms are insects. No matter which figure you care choose, numbers impressively large. What is it about insects accounts for this inordinately large species? An assessment their biological attributes provides at least three important clues. The most concerns relatively high degree resource specialization. Approximately 70% British insects, probably representative world’s fauna, parasitoids or parasites on animals plants (Price 1980). Of these half feed plants, with majority infesting one a few closely related hosts (Strong et al. 1984). A second clue when sister host specialists found coexisting sympatrically parapatrically they almost always feeding different plant species. Finally, third characteristic shared by many use plant’s habitat as rendezvous site locating mate (Bush 1975b; Zwolfer 1975).