Evolution of Metamorphosis

[Moontanman]

Originally Posted by Thunderbird

I’m sure the wing attachments were originally gills and appendages, but the advent of the wings themselves for flight, and the boom of complex body forms of the burgess record can be explained quite neatly though the lens of a complex adaptive molting process.

IMHO the scenario would have happened something like this.

During the early days of arthropod evolution {preflight} they faced certain challenges. During this period the insect would have developed from the egg to the nymph , or in the case of the land insect something like a caterpillar, but they remained that way though their entire life span. They would have to molt just as any arthropod with an exoskeleton, but in the beginning they just would emerge with a better suit of armor but no wings.

The molting process would be an opportunity in the beginning not for full fledge flight but for the much more simple precursor of wings. A device that could meet the immediate needs of the time simply, which is to disperse outward from the group of hatch mates to find other food sources and a breeding partner. the ability to disperse from the original hatch site would have great advantages in the competitive environment.

During the molting stage the nymph or pupa would climb high in to the vegetation shed the exoskeleton completely except for the certain appendages that molted last. The light weight exoskeleton could then be held up into the passing air currents and carry the bug away, just as newly hatched spiders utilize streamers of silk to carry them away in the current of air.

The complex adaptive molt would start as a simple dispersal mechanism as the “paraglideres” land they would finish the molting process and remain a non flier. Over time however the exoskeleton would adapt to becoming more of something they could use over and over. climbing sailing, climbing sailing, until finally it developed the appendages and muscles and all associated linkages for powered flight.

Utilizing this same simple scenario for the arthropods of the burgess event of the complex adaptive molt it can be seen quiet clearly it could follow the same scenario. The vast array of appendages of pincers, antenna, spines, complex armor all could have developed by utilizing a partially molted retention of the exoskeleton of varying geometric useful shapes. In the case of the caterpillar cocoon to butterflies the cocoon is just a complex molt within a molt.

Sounds as good as any I've heard, especially if you take the thicker atmosphere into account. Flying is a odd thing to evolve if you think about it. I don't think it could happen on a planet with a significantly thinner atmosphere or higher gravity. Makes you wonder what might evolve on a planet with thicker air and lower gravity.