News from IBE (CSIC-UPF)
Subterranean species are usually strongly modified both in their morphology and biology. They are usually though as evolutionary dead ends, confined by limited dispersal and strict ecological requirements. In a recent study, researchers from the IBE found that in a Pyrenean subterranean beetle lineage an extreme modification, the progressive reduction of the number of larval instars leading to a non-feeding, inactive larvae that does not moult, evolved only once during the lower Miocene.
The results imply that a highly modified subterranean lineage can expand its geographic range and diversify over long evolutionary periods. The study is a joint work between the Ignacio Ribera Lab and collaborators of the Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona.
Cieslak A., Fresneda, J, Ribera I. "Life history specialisation was not an evolutionary dead end in Pyrenean cave beetles." Proc. R. Soc. B, 26 de febrer