Independent evolution of a complex sucking pump in arthropods

Date:
February 17, 2022
Source:
University of Bonn
Summary:
Whether nectar-sucking butterflies or blood-sucking mosquitoes -
the ingestion of liquid food has long been known for many insects
and other arthropods. A research team now shows that millipedes
also use a sucking pump to ingest liquid food. A sucking pump has
thus evolved independently in different groups of organisms over
several 100 million years. In the process, astonishingly similar
biomechanical solutions for ingesting liquid food have evolved in
widely distant animal groups.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Whether nectar-sucking butterflies or blood-sucking mosquitoes --
the ingestion of liquid food has long been known for many insects
and other arthropods. A research team from Germany and Switzerland,
led by the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change
(LIB) and the University of Bonn, now shows that millipedes also use
a sucking pump to ingest liquid food. A sucking pump has thus evolved independently in different groups of organisms over several 100 million
years. In the process, astonishingly similar biomechanical solutions for ingesting liquid food have evolved in widely distant animal groups. The
study results have now been published in the journalScience Advances.


==========================================================================
Like insects, crustaceans and arachnids, millipedes belong to the
megadiverse group of arthropods. While liquid-based diets have been
for insects and arachnids, it was previously only suspected that some millipedes also feed on liquid food. A team led by scientists Leif Moritz (Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change, University
of Bonn), Dr. Thomas Wesener (Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change) and Prof. Dr.

Alexander Blanke (University of Bonn) now studied the heads of
representatives of the species-poor and exotic Colobognatha.

Using high-resolution tomography as well as histological methods
and electron microscopy, the researchers discovered a sucking pump
in millipedes that is strikingly similar to those of insects. It
consists of a chamber that is widened by strong muscles to suck in
liquid food. "Together with the protractible mouthparts the sucking pump enables these millipedes to ingest more or less liquid food," explains
Leif Moritz, a doctoral student at the University of Bonn and the LIB.

The research team was thus able to show that the functional tools for
a diet with liquid nutrients have evolved several times independently
in all major subgroups of arthropods. "The biomechanical-morphological similarities between the groups of organisms indicate the strength of
selection as soon as a food source provides even a slight evolutionary advantage," elaborates Alexander Blanke head of the working group for evolutionary morphology at the University of Bonn.

The study also provides insights to better understand the origin
of species diversity. This is because, in contrast to the very
species-rich sucking insects with over 400,000 species, the group of Colobognatha millipedes comprises only about 250 species. "Consequently, liquid-based feeding alone is not a general driver of species richness,"
adds Thomas Wesener, head of the Myriapoda section at LIB. Because these millipedes mostly rely on moist habitats and cannot fly, their dispersal options appear limited, and they are more vulnerable to environmental
change. "Today's sucking millipedes are probably a relict group and the
remnant of a once much larger diversity," Alexander Blanke assumes.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Bonn. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Related Multimedia:
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Millipedes,_including_one_with_a_long_beak_that_can_be_moved_back_and
forth_like_a_saw ========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Leif Moritz, Elena Borisova, Jo"rg U. Hammel, Alexander Blanke,
Thomas
Wesener. A previously unknown feeding mode in millipedes and the
convergence of fluid feeding across arthropods. Science Advances,
2022; 8 (7) DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abm0577 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220217102033.htm

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