Abstract
Our theme is “Evolution of escape,” by contrasted strategies of migration and of diapause. Migration is characterized not only by escape from adverse conditions, but also by the active exploitation of temporary habitats — as Southwood (19 62) has emphasized. We now know that far back in geological time (and long before the first birds) there were already wind systems available of a kind likely to have enabled the early insects to locate and exploit new food supplies following rains — as Desert Locusts (Schistocerca gregaria Forsk.) can so spectacularly do to this day. Thus the extent and consistency of orientation of fossil sand dunes in the western United States provide evidence of prevailing easterly tradewinds in Permo-Carboniferous times, with the dunes, by continental drift, then in appropriately lower latitudes than their present position (Runcorn, 1961).
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Rainey, R.C. (1978). The Evolution and Ecology of Flight: the “Oceanographic” Approach. In: Dingle, H. (eds) Evolution of Insect Migration and Diapause. Proceedings in Life Sciences. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-6941-1_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-6941-1_2
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