What serial homologs can tell us about the origin of insect wings

Although the insect wing is a textbook example of morphological novelty, the origin of insect wings remains a mystery and is regarded as a chief conundrum in biology. Centuries of debates have culminated into two prominent hypotheses: the tergal origin hypothesis and the pleural origin hypothesis. However, between these two hypotheses, there is little consensus in regard to the origin tissue of the wing as well as the evolutionary route from the origin tissue to the functional flight device. Recent evolutionary developmental (evo-devo) studies have shed new light on the origin of insect wings. A key concept in these studies is “serial homology”. In this review, we discuss how the wing serial homologs identified in recent evo-devo studies have provided a new angle through which this century-old conundrum can be explored. We also review what we have learned so far from wing serial homologs and discuss what we can do to go beyond simply identifying wing serial homologs and delve further into the developmental and genetic mechanisms that have facilitated the evolution of insect wings.