Download Biological Diversity - New York State Museum

W
ITH ITS WISPINESS AND LIGHT-AND-DARK
COLORATION, THE PHANTOM CRANE FLY
MIMICS COBWEBS AS IT FLIES THROUGH THE
AIR. IF CAUGHT, IT CAN EASILY LOSE A LIMB,
A CHARACTERISTIC KNOWN AS AUTOTOMY.
a result, still more niches are generated by the combinations of life cycles. Another
reason for the megadiversity of insects may be pre-emption. Insects were among the
first small animals to adapt well to the land environment in early Paleozoic times,
some 400 million years ago, and this advantage allowed them to expand their
populations and species to an extreme degree while holding their own against rival
groups among the land invaders. The pre-emption hypothesis gains some support
from the fact that oribatid mites invaded the land about the same time, and today
they too are exceptionally diverse and abundant.
B i o l o g i c a l
17 D i v e r s i t y