A hypothetical island lies far from any other landmasses. There are many different types of plants, but only one animal, a beetle, that can fly or walk from plant to plant and that feeds by chewing leaves. Given that the beetle is not exploiting all of the resources on the island, which morphological change would be most likely to trigger an adaptive radiation of the beetles?

Question

Biology

Sienna Atkinson

31 October, 23:40

A hypothetical island lies far from any other landmasses. There are many different types of plants, but only one animal, a beetle, that can fly or walk from plant to plant and that feeds by chewing leaves. Given that the beetle is not exploiting all of the resources on the island, which morphological change would be most likely to trigger an adaptive radiation of the beetles?

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Answers (1)

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Karina Blackwell · Answer 1

It can change mouthparts, the antennae, wings, or claws.

Explanation:

The beetle is an insect that is feed by plants, of course it will prefer some plants over another, but depending the plants that surround it can change some of its body parts.

The mouth parts can change because if the leaves are thinner or thicker the mouth as the claws can get smaller or larger depending the needs.

Also if the plants are colorful or they have strong aromas, the antennae can grow or get smaller to reach the plants.

The distance among the plants, also can influence in the size of the wings, because maybe this beetle need to fly long distances between one plant and another.