Some questions about Complex Insect Behaviors...?

Question

Some insect behaviors are rather complex, are they learned or instinctive? Do insects act and react instinctively, or are they capable of thought? About what time during their evolutionary development did complex behaviors develop? Are insect behaviors continuing to evolve, or to develop? Are insects evolving in this age--any examples? Thanks for any information.

Answer 1

Instinctive for the most part. Although anything with a brain is capable of learning to some extent through association and positive and negative reinforcement. Their behaviors may be complex but the 'programing' behind the behaviors are usually fairly simple sets of situational rules.

Everything is evolving, insects are one of the few things that are large enough for the average person to see that reproduce quickly enough and prolifically enough to evolve quickly. Pesticide resistance and speciation related to the opening up of new ecological niches related to human activity are a couple of examples.

There's a mosquito that lives only in the London subway system the 'molestus' that split off from 'culinex' mosquitoes.
There are apple maggot flies that are speciating because the sub populations are feeding and reproducing on different trees one group on native hawthorn trees and another on introduced apple trees. I wouldn't really expect too much on behavioral evolution all the behavioral explorations have been over for a looong time.

The group they belong to appeared during the Triassic, it includes ants and wasps, all of which descended from winged precursors.The more complex behaviors among bees would have been elaborated on with the evolution and diversification of flowering plants which was ongoing at the time.

Answer 2

You are asking a lot in one go!

1. Most behaviour is instinctive.Their ability to learn is most of a all a quest for finding food and thus an extension of instinctive behaviour.
2.Insect are not capable of thought as human thought is.
3.Development of complex behaviour cannot always be traced back to a specific date; When did bees first start to make hives in a certain way? Impossible to answer almost.
4.Insect behaviour continues to develop slightly.Nature is never a constant.If new species are developing I would not know about it.
Ask a specialist in the field.There might be mutations due to all sorts of factors,changing environment,pollution,etc....

Answer 3

it fairly is incorrect to oppose instinct to studying. looking is " a instinct to acquire an artwork ". As above, interior the 1st answer, getting food for an obligate carnivore could be instinctual, because it fairly is in you. What food and the thank you to take it fairly is what could nicely be noted as " found out ", nonetheless you have a energetic dialogue on what constitutes studying.