Meeting Abstract
Resilin, a rubber-like protein, appears in the wings of many insects, often in flexible joints where fold-lines or flexion-lines cross wing veins. Recent work has begun to reveal the important functional roles of particular resilin joints and associated flexion-lines. For example, the 1m-cu joint in bumblebees has been found to increase aerodynamic force production and improve flight stability by promoting favorable wing flexion during flight, and the “costal break” in yellowjacket wasps has been found to mitigate collision-induced wing damage by allowing the wing tip to collapse reversibly. Beyond bumblebees and yellowjackets, however, little is known about the distribution of resilin in the wings of other bees and wasps, and the extent to which it varies across the hymenopteran phylogeny. We used confocal microscopy to map the distribution of auto-fluorescent resilin structures in the wings of over 50 hymenopteran species from more than 17 families. We found that the overall number, positions, and shapes of resilin structures varied widely across hymenopteran families, and that representatives of Apis (honeybees) and Bombus (bumblebees) were missing a costal break entirely. Our results raise important questions surrounding the functional implications of diverse wing morphologies, and the evolutionary factors and constraints that have given rise to different patterns of wing flexibility.
