What did insect wings evolve from?

[Little_Nemo]

A bird’s or bat’s wings evolved out of their forelimbs. But all insects, winged and wingless, have the standard six limbs. What did insect wings evolve from?

[DrFidelius]

Gill covers. Maybe.

[engineer_comp_geek]

This article from last March claims that wings are the result of two genes that were already present in insects, one that forms legs and another that forms shells.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/columnist/vergano/2010-03-26-wings29_ST_COLUMN_N.htm

Both genes were already present in the wingless ancient ancestor of today’s flying bugs, the researchers note, because they had other jobs to do. One plays a role in development of the insect shell (vestigial) and the other helps limb growth (wingless). Add them together and you have a shelled limb — a wing, they conclude.

There is much more info in the article.

[ChrisBooth12]

Well what did the limbs that turned into wings evolve from? It all goes back to a single cell.

[Little_Nemo]

@ChrisBooth12

Well what did the limbs that turned into wings evolve from? It all goes back to a single cell.

My point was that if wings evolved from legs, there would be six-legged non-flying insects and four-legged winged insects.

[Blake]

@Little_Nemo

My point was that if wings evolved from legs, there would be six-legged non-flying insects and four-legged winged insects.

As far as we an tell, the limbs that gave rise to wings weren’t legs, they were gills. The same gill limbsexist today in mayfly larvae, cheliceratesand in many crustaceans.

So what we would expect to see is insects with 6 legs and 2 pair fewer gills. Of course since insects have long since lost their gills in the adult stage, we see that they are missing *all *their gill pairs.