Beating the Heat in Obligate Insect Endotherms: The Environmental Problem and the Organismal Solutions

In insects, heat production, and by inference passively generatedbody temperatures, can now be predicted given certain characteristicsof flight, insulation and body size. The potential problem ofoverheating can then also be predicted. But the primary biologicalinterests are in finding the solutions to problems. This reviewof discoveries of mechanisms of insect thermoregulation showswhere attempts to extrapolate from generalities have had mixedresults. Specific knowledge of the organisms had pointed topotential solutions that could then be explored. But specificsolutions could only be predicted post hoc.