Data from: Wasp waist and flight: convergent evolution in wasps reveals a link between wings and body shapes

Insect flight is made possible by different morphological structures:
wings produce the lift, the thorax drives the wings’ movements and the
abdomen serves as a secondary control device. As such, the covariation of
these structures could reflect functional constraints related to flight
performances. This study examines evolutionary convergences in wasp body
shapes to provide the first evidence for morphological integration between
insect wings, thorax and abdomen. Shapes of the fore- and hindwings,
thorax and petiole (connecting abdomen and thorax) of 22 Vespidae species
were analyzed using computerized tomography and geometric morphometrics.
Results show a clear relationship between petiole and wings or thorax
shapes, but not between wings and thorax. Wasps with elongated bodies have
pointed wings, both features thought to improve flight maneuverability. In
contrast, stouter species have rounded wings, which may allow for higher
flight speeds. These integration patterns suggest that multiple selective
regimes on flight performance, some of them biased towards maneuverability
or maximal speed, drove the morphological diversity in Vespidae. The
results also suggest that wing shapes evolved under constraints related to
the body type they have to lift. The abdomen morphology is thus another
factor to take into account to understand the flight performance of
insects.