[Taxacom] Why insects are so diverse?

[Thomas Allen]

NaN.  <o:DocumentProperties>  <o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>  <o:Revision>0</o:Revision>  <o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>  <o:Pages>1</o:Pages>  <o:Words>267</o:Words>  <o:Characters>1522</o:Characters>  <o:Company>Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic School</o:Company>  <o:Lines>12</o:Lines>  <o:Paragraphs>3</o:Paragraphs>  <o:CharactersWithSpaces>1869</o:CharactersWithSpaces>  <o:Version>12.0</o:Version> </o:DocumentProperties> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings>  <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings><![endif]--> <w:WordDocument>  <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>  <w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>  <w:TrackFormatting/>  <w:PunctuationKerning/>  <w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>  <w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>  <w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>  <w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>  <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>  <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>  <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>  <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>  <w:Compatibility>   <w:BreakWrappedTables/>   <w:DontGrowAutofit/>   <w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>   <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>  </w:Compatibility> </w:WordDocument><![endif]--> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276"> </w:LatentStyles><![endif]--> /* Style Definitions */table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;mso-para-margin:0in;mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}<![endif]-->First,  It is, however, good to get away fromall that “Monkey Business.”
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I had much the same thoughts as Dr Mesibov back about 2003when I first came across some Wolbachia papers.  PerhapsWobachia could be a new approach. 
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I work with several of the Apterygote Hexapod orders, thoselittle creatures at the base of the Insect or Hexapod Phylogeny.  
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As indicated by Dr. Lammers much of the evolutionary processwe do not understand and lot of what we think we understand needs to be revisitedwith a fresh mind.  I find the explanations currently invogue weak.


>>> Bob Mesibov <mesibov at southcom.com.au> 01/15/10 9:06 PM >>>
Every once in a while I stumble across a paper that gives me an 'Uh oh...' reaction. That's 'Uh oh...' as in 'Hmm, if that's true and more common than we now know about, we need to rewrite a few textbooks.' The latest paper to give me the 'Uh oh...' is this one:

http://cshprotocols.cshlp.org/cgi/content/abstract/2009/10/pdb.prot5312

and its companion

http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0004425

I'd already thought that if Wolbachia could shift bits of the host genome from one species to another, then it was a better lateral-gene-transfer agent than an infective virus. Now comes the thought that by reinforcing species barriers, Wolbachia might be *driving* arthropod evolution. Or should that be 'arthropod+Wolbachia evolution'?
-- 
Dr Robert Mesibov
Honorary Research Associate
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, and
School of Zoology, University of Tasmania
Home contact: PO Box 101, Penguin, Tasmania, Australia 7316
(03) 64371195; 61 3 64371195
Website: http://www.qvmag.tas.gov.au/mesibov.html

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