October 21, 2019
THERE ARE NO DARWINISTS:
A Textbook Evolutionary Story Is Wrong: For 50 years, researchers have thought that moths evolved ears to detect the ultrasonic calls of attacking bats--but a new study shows that ears came first. (ED YONG, 10/21/19, The Atlantic)
The standard version of the tale--the one told in textbooks and hundreds of scientific papers--goes like this. Millions of years ago, bats evolved a kind of sonar, allowing them to perceive the world by making high-pitched calls and analyzing the rebounding echoes. This ability, known as echolocation, allowed them to pick out and pick off flying insects, even in total darkness. In response, moths repeatedly evolved ultrasonic ears that could detect bat sonar, giving them time to make evasive maneuvers. An evolutionary arms race began.Scientists have been studying this ancient battle for 50 years, but they've been laboring under a critical misunderstanding for all that time. A team of researchers led by Akito Kawahara of the University of Florida has now shown that moth ears almost always evolved before bat sonar. They came first, by at least 28 million years. Their original purpose is unclear--but spotting bats wasn't it. "I think it's going to be a bit of a bombshell for the field," Kawahara says."Most of the introductions I've written in my papers are wrong," adds Jesse Barber of Boise State University, who has studied bats and moths for years, and was involved in the new study.
Posted by Orrin Judd at October 21, 2019 3:38 PM