Meeting Abstract

S11.1  Friday, Jan. 7  Animal Aloft: The Origins of Aerial Behavior DUDLEY, R.*; YANOVIAK, S.P.; Univ. of California, Berkeley; Univ. of Arkansas, Little Rock wings@berkeley.edu

Diverse animal taxa exhibit remarkable aerial capacities, including jumping, parachuting, gliding, controlled maneuvers, and flapping flight. The origin of wings in hexapods and in three separate lineages of vertebrates (pterosaurs, bats, and birds) greatly facilitated subsequent diversification, but both the paleobiological context and possible selection pressures for wing evolution remain contentious. Recently described behaviors in numerous arboreal arthropods demonstrate sophisticated biomechanical capacity for directed aerial descent in the absence of wings. More generally, the use of of winglets and partial wings to effect aerial righting and gliding maneuvers could yield enhanced appendicular motions, and ultimately lead to powered flight. The more than thirty phylogenetically independent lineages of arboreal vertebrate gliders lend strong ecological support to the feasibility of such a trajectory. Similar scenarios can be postulated for the ancestrally terrestrial apterygote hexapods, although the origins of insect wings remain unresolved both developmentally and paleontologically. The intentional control of aerial trajectories as animals jump or fall from heights (and usually from vegetation) likely characterizes many more taxa than is currently recognized. Understanding the sensory and biomechanical mechanisms used by extant gliders to control and orient their descent can help to identify pathways potentially involved in the acquisition of wings.