Multiple roads to swarming: divergent molecular machineries drive the repeated evolution of locusts
Maéva Angélique Techer, Sheina B. Sim, Olga Dudchenko, Anna K. Childers, Julianne Allred, Emily Baker, David Mario Bellini, Devon J. Boland, Herman A. Dierick, Richard Burkett Dewell, Bert Foquet, Scott M. Geib, Ruqayya Khan, Richelle Marquess, Audelia M. C. Mechti, , Hojun Song
The paper shows that locust swarming evolves through diverse molecular pathways rather than shared genes, highlighting flexible regulatory architectures and modular systems.
bioRxiv · Aug 22, 2026 · PreprintEvolutionary Biology