Most insane examples of insular evolution

Nature Talk
1

Let’s talk about insular fauna. Not what you have observed, but what you know. Do your research. Do not forget to add links to images on iNat (or other images if images are not available on iNat), and also the endemic range.

Add species that really make people say “WOW!!!”, not just any cool looking critter. Also try to focus on insects if possible, as they have evolved to be the most insane.

Here are starters:

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/68092-Eupholus#map-tab - New Guinea

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/842152-Sphenomorpha - New Guinea + Maluku islands

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/507854-Pachyrhynchus - Philippines

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/567973-Aporhina - Australia, New Guinea and surrounding islands

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1398561-Polyrhachis-loriai - New Guinea

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1501492-Polyrhachis-croceiventris - New Guinea

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1399184-Polyrhachis-metella - New Guinea

https://www.antwiki.org/wiki/Polyrhachis_inflata - New Guinea

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1399175-Orectognathus-szentivanyi - New Guinea (some relatives are found in Australia but this is the most splendid species in the genus)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/966366-Datua-bisinuata - Borneo

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/891636-Pyrops-valerian - Sulawesi

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1404312-Phytalmia-cervicornis - New Guinea

Now, what are yours?

2

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1124144-Calycopteryx-moseleyi Wingless micropezid from the Kerguelen Islands.

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/85230-Motuweta-isolata Of course New Zealand has the wētā, but this one’s sort of a “recursive” island taxon. (as in, an island taxon which itself originated from another island)

If Australia counts as an island, I suppose the relict greenling (last of its family) counts: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/102586-Hemiphlebia-mirabilis

Then there’s the famous frosted phoenix, so rarely seen (until about last year, when it seems the code has been cracked; namely, they’re abundant on drizzly nights) we don’t even know what group it’s in: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/398171-Titanomis-sisyrota

Kerguelen delivers once more, this time with a flightless moth: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/685043-Pringleophaga-kerguelensis

Here’s a Hawaiian moth with species whose caterpillars live underwater and make cases out of dead animals: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/177699-Hyposmocoma

A “giant” (as in 1 cm long) and brightly coloured (as in it has orange wings) Papuan braconid wasp: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1678081-Karposibracon-papuensis (unforchies there aren’t any observations yet)

Sure, Baeus is quite similar, but Mirobaeoides is still weird and from an island. https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/320163-Mirobaeoides (funnily enough, all its observations are in a roughly 300m-long line… and all by Stephen Thorpe (RIP))

Cladomacra looks pretty normal (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1514780-Cladomacra) until you learn of the species Cladomacra terricola, which has wingless females with weird thoraxes and highly reduced ovipositors (https://resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-3113.1984.tb00059.x)

3

Beautiful examples!

Adding the Antarctic midge (I think it counts as Antarctica is an island with harsh conditions?)

4

Just added like six more examples XD

5

Not sure whether the violin beetle counts, since while it occurs on islands it’s also on the mainland. But I’ll add it anyway: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/422200-Mormolyce

Here’s a Bornean beetle with huge ear-shaped antennal segments: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1661122-Sarawakiola-ajaib (paper: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262916674_An_interesting_genus_of_chrysomelid_beetle_from_Sarawak_Malaysia_Coleoptera_Chrysomelidae_Galerucinae)

A flightless Haitian beetle with a sort-of “hump”: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/503938-Convexocoleus

The world’s only eusocial beetle, from Australia:https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1098851-Austroplatypus-incompertus

A wingless, jumping, short-headed Jamaican weevil: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1677894-Apteroxenus (paper: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4000147 )

Another of the “spiky-winged weevils”, this time from New Zealand: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/378078-Scolopterus

The weevils are back, this time with a New Caledonian one that dressed up as a Hercules beetle: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1003506-Cerocranus-extremus

You can’t mention weird island insects without the giraffe weevil! https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/68372-Trachelophorus-giraffa

Well, both of them, actually: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/408752-Lasiorhynchus-barbicornis

An Australian not-a-wasp-but-a-beetle: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/891789-Enchoptera-nigricornis

A longhorn that looks for all the world like an ant (it’s by design, too): https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1171592-Formicomimus-mirabilis

Gosh, Australia has a lot of weird longhorns, doesn’t it? https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1541113-Excastra-albopilosa

This Tasmanian byrrhid looks like it’s covered in blisters: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/627531-Notolioon

Of course there’s Rhinorhipus, the beetle equivalent of a coelacanth: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1497903-Rhinorhipus-tamborinensis

Lycids are more often weird than not, but this Sulawesi-native one takes the name “net-winged” to another level: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/907129-Broxylus

Also this one, with antennae about as long as itself: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/933419-Atelius

Here’s one with tiny elytra but regular-sized wings: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1681020-Alyculus-kurbatovi (Paper: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/291323905_Alyculus_new_genus_first_brachypterous_male_lycid_Insecta_Coleoptera)

Morostoma, a Malagasy click beetle that looks like it has four mandibles: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1522505-Morostoma-palpale (only image I could find, yes it’s on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paul.bertner/posts/one-of-the-most-bizarres-click-beetles-morostoma-palpare-ive-encountered-with-bi/1016139408468591/)

The giraffe weevil returns in spirit, but this time it’s a Malaysian rove beetle! https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/896239-Diatelium-wallacei

6

A Subantarctic rove beetle with funky mouthparts: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/397597-Stylogymnusa-subantarctica (paper: https://resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-3113.1975.tb00010.x)

A double whammy of both cave life and island evolution (specifically on the Galapagos): https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/329710-Pinostygus-galapagoensis (paper: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/296507957_Pinostygus_galapagoensis_a_new_genus_and_species_of_eyeless_rove_beetle_Coleoptera_Staphylinidae_Paederinae_from_a_cave_in_the_Galapagos_Islands_Ecuador)

An Australian katydid that copies cicadas to eat them: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/528445-Chlorobalius-leucoviridis

Another Australian katydid, but this one just looks like a stick: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/514915-Zaprochilus-australis

The “world’s most unusual” raspy cricket. That’s actually what it was called in the paper naming it. https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1446155-Urogryllacris-gwinganna

A bit mean to call it a monster, but it’s still an odd little thing: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/201620-Cooloola

Really weird Philippine leafhopper: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/889302-Dendrokara

Dominican assassin bug with weird colours, alongside “horns” on its head: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1194671-Capricephala-chiaroscuro

Ulpius, a brightly coloured Malagasy assassin bug with funky colours: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/969895-Ulpius

They weren’t kidding when they named it “larvatus”, huh? https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1337882-Nabis-larvatus

Not an insect, but I just HAVE to mention Neopantopsalis: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/527409-Neopantopsalis-pentheter

Sorensenella too: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/378160-Sorensenella

Hoplodino as well, even if it isn’t quite as ridiculous: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/535548-Hoplodino

7

You literally stumped me. I were about to add Cerocranus. lol.

8

I’m not sure if Acropsopilio really counts, but it’s still weird: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/249250-Acropsopilio

9

Yes they count, but not Mormolyce because it is also mainland.

10

At least Mormolyce is only one bug out of like 2,763 weirdos :p

11

Spiky beetle - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_id=1349330

12

Here’s Oecharis, an Australian bug that looks like it fused with a snowglobe: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1147717-Oecharis

Gryllofulvius, a wingless, chirping mirid: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1678589-Gryllofulvius-gibbosus (paper: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/388869876_Gryllofulvius_gibbosus_Taszakowski_gen_et_sp_nov_-_a_remarkable_flightless_and_stridulating_plant_bug_Heteroptera_Miridae_Cylapinae_from_Madagascar)

Carayonovus, a heteropteran from Reunión that’s so strange it might even be a new family: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1678592-Carayonovus (paper: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325701097_Carayonovus_n_gen_from_Reunion_Island_-_aberrant_new_genus_of_Anthocoridae_or_representative_of_a_new_family_Heteroptera_Cimicoidea)

Neochlonocoris, a spiky wingless aradid from New Guinea: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1678596-Neochlonocoris (paper: https://www.mapress.com/jihs/article/view/jihs.2.2.4 )

The bat-winged fly, which speaks for itself: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/389560-Exsul-singularis

Nothing needs legs THIS long! https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/633232-Paramimegralla

Entirely wingless fly which looks like an ant and lays eggs in pitcher plants: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1378472-Badisis-ambulans

Wingless kelp fly from a Subantarctic island: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/376687-Icaridion

Huge Malagasy mayfly with tusked larvae: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/645705-Proboscidoplocia

An entirely separate group of isopods from woodlice that came onto land: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/209258-Phreatoicopsidae

Just look at this thing: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/555765-Calmanesia

13

In case you’re wondering where I got all these weirdos from: https://www.inaturalist.org/lists/4576111-Weird-arthropods

14

Definitely lives up to the “dragon” moniker: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1110136-Womersleymeria

A hyper-elongate proboscis, for a hyper-elongate flower: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/486565-Xanthopan-morganii (EDIT: Didn’t realise X. morgani praedicta (the Malagasy subspecies) was treated as its own species!)

15

Do not break the rules!!! I said only insular endemic and now you adding a mainland african moth???

Giant springtails of NZ - https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/376614-Holacanthella

16

Interesting beetle from Palawan - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/280472671

17

I know its not an insect, but, come on. Its an elephant the size of a sheep. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palaeoloxodon_falconeri

18

Ah, I didn’t realise the Malagasy subspecies was its own species here.

This is the moth I meant to put: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1616789-Xanthopan-praedicta

19

Who can forget the famous New Zealand glowworm (and related species)? https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/125923-Arachnocampa

20

It’s ok. I said “try to focus on insects” because they often are the weirdest. Other creatures are ok too.