INSECT ECOMORPHOLOGY LINKING FUNCTIONAL INSECT MORPHOLOGY TO ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION (PB 2025)

**2026 PROSE Award Category Winner in Biology**

Insect Ecomorphology: Linking Functional Insect Morphology to Ecology and Evolution offers up-to-date knowledge and understanding of the morphology of insects and the functional basis of their diversity. This book covers the form and function of insect body structures in relation to their physiological performance capabilities, biological roles, and evolutionary histories. Written by international experts, the book explores the ecomorphology of functional systems such as insect feeding, locomotion, sensing, and egg laying. The combination of conceptual and review chapters, methodological approaches, and case studies enables readers to delve into active research fields and to gain an understanding of the form-function-performance paradigm.

This book uncovers key structures of the various regions of the insect body, elucidates their function, and investigates their ecological and evolutionary implications. Insect Ecomorphology is thus a vital resource for entomologists, biologists, and zoologists, especially those seeking to understand more fully the morphology and physiological impacts of insects in correlation to their environments and to evolution.

• Integrates traditionally separate fields of research with the aim of understanding insect morphology, ecology, and evolution
• Considers the impacts of insect ecomorphology on biomimetic applications
• Includes conceptual and methodological chapters to help readers appreciate the ways in which ecomorphological studies are performed

Oliver Betz obtained a Ph.D. in 1994 from the University of Bayreuth in Germany for his work on the morphology, function, and evolution of the prey-capture apparatus in Stenus rove beetles. He then became interested in the broader fields of functional and ecological morphology and became an assistant professor in ecology and zoology in 2002 at the University of Kiel, Germany. Since 2004, Oliver has been a full professor of Evolutionary Biology of Invertebrates at the Biology Department at the University of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. His research focuses on the functional and ecological morphology of insects, with a focus on the integration of morphology and ecology to improve the understanding of the function of morphological structures in their ecological and evolutionary context.