THE PROBLEMS OF "MORPHOLOGICAL 

 ADAPTATION" IN INSECTS 



By GUIDO GRANDI 



Entomological Institute of the University of Bologna, Italy 

 (With 20 Plates) 



In 1955 I published in Atti deH'Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei 

 a paper, illustrated with 25 plates, on the problems related to the 

 "morphological adaptation" of the insects that have a specialized 

 diet.^ In the same year I presented a summary (without illustrations) 

 of this paper for the volume of the Centennial Anniversary of the 

 Societe Royale d'Entomologie de Belgique.^ Both of these contribu- 

 tions were published in Italian. 



Now, as I have been invited by the Smithsonian Institution to con- 

 tribute to the volume to be printed in honor of Dr. R. E. Snodgrass, 

 I have thought that it would be advisable to let American biologists 

 know directly and concisely (namely, with a short summary brought 

 up to date with the lastest findings) what I have discovered during my 

 researches on the morphology, ethology, and ecology of the insects 

 with a specialized diet, and also the deductions derived from the 

 achieved results.^ 



Whoever has had the opportunity to consult the works dealing 

 with the complex problems of the so-called "morphological adapta- 

 tion" must have observed that the authors' references generally con- 

 cern a rather limited number of taxonomic groups of living things. 

 As a result the animal kingdom has been studied only partially, and 

 the immense world of insects has been almost neglected. Yet it is a 

 world which has displayed and more and more will display in the 

 future a notable assemblage of structures and behaviors, the knowl- 

 edge of which will perhaps be of the greatest importance for the solu- 



1 Grandi, G., Gli Insetti a regime specializzato ed i loro adattamenti morfo- 

 logici. Atti Accad. Naz. Lincei. An. CCCLII, Mem. Class. Sci. Fis. Mat. Nat., 

 ser. 8, vol. 5, sez. 3, fasc. i, pp. 1-60, 25 pis., 1955. 



2 Grandi, G., Gli Insetti ed i problemi dell'adattamento morfologico. Mem. 

 Soc. Roy. Ent. Belgique, vol. 27, pp. 252-275, 1955. 



3 In order not to burden the present note with the long list (70) of the biblio- 

 graphical references of my publications on the subject, I refer to my paper 

 in Atti dell'Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, where the above-mentioned papers 

 are almost all recorded. 



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