Until now, only fully winged may£ies have been known. It has been proposed recently that brachyptery could be a missing link in the development of insect £ight, via sailing or skimming aquatic insects. To our knowledge, we report here the ¢rst documented case of brachyptery in may£ies. The £ightless genus Cheirogenesia is endemic to Madagascar, and the adults skim the water surface. This loss of the £ight function has induced important physiological changes, such as a shift from lipids to carbohydrates in the energy reserves used during their adult life. Comparison of wing area of living may£ies with fossil species indicates that brachyptery could have already occurred in early £ying insects (in the Permian). We argue that £ight loss in Cheirogenesia has been made possible by the lack of ¢sh predation in its natural habitats.
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