Flying through the air on a summer's evening or sparkling in the ocean you may see magical flashes of light that signal some of nature's most enchanting creatures, those that are bioluminescent.

Some spiders have evolved a most remarkable method of capturing other spiders – they imitate the vibrations of insects caught in their victim’s web. And this is only one of numerous intriguing examples of vibrational communication in arthropods…

The most famous hymenopteran farmers are, without doubt, the attine ants. Rightly so, but they are not the only ones...

Flies, fungi, farming - sounds interesting? Read on if you want to learn about some rather different gall midges...

Think of weevils and most likely you'll think of spoiled food. But some weevils have turned to farming...

What on earth could an elephant or treehoppers have in common with a seismometer?

Several groups of angiosperms have flower structures that produce foul odours to attract pollinating insects. This strategy is convergent, being found in species as distantly related as the 'Titan arum' Amorphophallus titanium (a monocot) and the 'Corpse flower' Rafflesia (a eudicot).

Nests crop up everywhere, but one made out of foam? Might not sound like a great idea, but it is. And no surprise, it has evolved several times...

Autumn colours are likely to be adaptive, as the 'default' is simply to remain green up to leaf fall, and both red and yellow leaf colouration have evolved independently on many occasions in gymnosperms and woody angiosperms.

Insects and mammals have a group of ion channels (known as TRPs or Transient Receptor Potential channels) that are very similar and assumed to have a single origin.

It is clear than an ascomycete yeast in a planthopper has been acquired quite independently of the beetles which employ a true yeast.

Beetles that "play possum"? A rather interesting example of convergence…

Male dance flies lure females with a dead insect. Not very romantic, you might think, but it certainly does the trick. Hence, such nuptial gifts have evolved in numerous other arthropods...

In the insects the capacity to make foam is important in several groups for defence, including in grasshoppers, moths, ants and spittlebugs.

Latex is important in terms of defence not only because it typically gums-up attackers, notably insects, but often contains toxins.

Tree-dwelling (‘arboreal’) ants capable of controlled gliding do so when dislodged or threatened by predation. Gliding species include members of three disparate families: Myrmicinae, Pseudomyrmecinae and Formicinae.

In the reptiles, different forms of skin membrane (called ‘patagia’) and in some extinct species, primitive feathers, have evolved convergently as adaptations for gliding.

“Evidence on the origin and spread of the two best-studied cases of parthenogenesis from the Australian arid zone, the grasshopper Warramaba virgo and the gecko Heteronotia binoei, suggests that they evolved in parallel.” – Kearney et al. (2006) Molecular Ecology vol. 15, p.1743

Nocturnal colour vision is clearly convergent, and found in groups as disparate as the hawkmoths (insects), geckos (reptiles) and aye-aye (mammals).

A particularly interesting example of gregariousness is found in the larvae of some butterflies; not only is it convergent but has evolved more than twenty times.

Although olfaction is very widespread, there is abundant evidence for repeated convergence of key features, strongly suggesting that there really is an optimal solution to detecting smells.

Whilst infrared detection is probably best known in the snakes (where it has evolved twice), in point of fact in terms of convergence the insects provide by far the most striking example.

Some snakes are famous for 'seeing' infrared, but did you know that their heat-sensing abilities are rivalled by some beetles that can detect forest fires over considerable distances?

The ability to taste is obviously an essential component in the life of any animal, both to assess the potential quality of food, its nutrient capacities and also to detect toxins or other dangers.

Some insects make a “back-pack” of dead ants that evidently deters the attention of jumping spiders, while even more remarkably a weevil living in Papua hosts a garden on its back, complete with moss, algae and other organisms.

Anti-reflection coating? Not only on mobile phone displays, but also on insect eyes...

In at least some cases the cycle of milk secretory activity in tsetse flies and coackroaches is strikingly similar to that found in the mammary glands of mammals.

Lipocalins are proteins that bind to and transport small hydrophobic molecules such as lipids and steroids, and have been associated with biological processes such as milk production, pheromone transport and immune responses.

It is clear that amongst the arthropods as a whole the compound eye has evolved at least twice, and possibly even more times.

Compound eyes have evolved convergently in the annelids, notably amongst the sabellids, where they evidently serve as an optical alarm system.

Some sea snails have a linear retina. What a hopeless arrangement, to see the world through just a narrow slit! Not quite, because they have come up with a rather intriguing trick to extend their visual field - and it's a trick too good to use only once.

Arthropods are famous for their compound eyes, but some groups have had a fair crack at evolving the optically superior camera eye…

In terms of adhesive pads we find they have a remarkably wide distribution evolving in at least four distinct groups, including members of the reptiles, amphibians, arthropods and mammals, with tentative parallels in sea urchins.

Remarkably, fossil silk is known, especially from amber of Cretaceous age. Material includes both silk with trapped insects, possibly from an orb-web, and strands with the characteristic viscid droplets that are the key in trapping prey.

What material is so versatile that it can be used for capturing prey, building nests, communication and even cleaning? The answer: that most remarkable of biomaterials - silk.

Female parasitoid wasps select stones to stamp down soil into the entrance of their burrows...

There are several varieties of insecticide, and each one is designed to knock out some metabolic or physiological capability of the insect, targeting a specific system.

Interestingly, it has now been shown that the saliva of the aphids has an analogue to the anti-coagulant properties of blood suckers, subverting the wound repair mechanism of the plant.

A soldier caste has evolved in aphids multiple times. They are typically clonal and equipped with powerful claws or stylets, and in one group even horns.

Halteres are balancing organs found in flies (dipterans) where the hind-wings are modified as balancing structures, and are convergent with the arrangement in the strepsipteran insects.

Some moths feed on the secretions from the tear-ducts of mammals, and some moths in Madagascar have evolved this independently, but instead of mammals they frequent birds.

Independently the sap-feeding aphids and psyllids have recruited γ-proteobacteria, respectively best known from Buchnera and Carsonella, in an intimate and obligate symbiotic relationship.

The praying mantises exercise a peculiar fascination, not only because of their lunging predatory habits, but also because on occasion the process of copulation ends with a decapitated male being chewed to pieces by the female while the reproductive movements continue.

Distinct hexamerins affect key growth hormones and help to regulate which caste type (e.g. worker or soldier) each individual develops into.

Strepsipteran females spend their whole life inside a wasp. The males are rather more exciting, particularly in terms of convergence…

Suffering from insomnia? Fruit flies do as well...

Eusociality is most familiar in the insects, where it has evolved several times, notably in bees, wasps, ants and termites, as well as in thrips and aphids.

Bees provide surprising insights into not only their cognitive abilities, such as the crucial distinction between same and different, but related features such as learning and memory.

Human farmers tending their fields are a familiar sight. But don't forget about those fungus-farming termites or the fish with a garden of algae…

The feature of bee communication that has attracted the most attention is the famous bee “dance” that relays information concerning location of productive areas for gathering nectar, pollen or water.

Flies show intriguing convergences in various sensory modalities, notably in the senses of taste and hearing.

The beetles are probably the most diverse animal group on earth, so it is not at all surprising that they provide many fascinating insights into convergence.

In some species, special squads leave the nest early each day, ascend the tree-trunks and then spend hours cutting out pieces of leaf that are dropped to other units on the ground.

Army ants are permanently nomadic, and act as highly co-ordinated units that can form long files or fan out across the forest floor in search of prey.

Remarkable trap-jaw structures have evolved independently in various ants.

Application of insecticides, such as against mosquitoes, has been documented in several primates and birds.

Like other birds hummingbirds are warm-blooded, but so independently are the hawk-moths, which like a number of insects have evolved thermoregulation.

Trap-jaws, silk and agriculture – just a few examples of convergence in the arguably most successful group of insects, the ants…

Viviparity has emerged in a number of insects, including the thrips and cockroaches. In the latter case the female also produces a “milk” for the nymphs.

Not surprisingly this is a rich area of insights into evolutionary convergence because if an animal, such as a spider, can independently evolve the pheromone then a sexual lure is turned into a metaphorical honey trap.

Insects are amongst the most successful of ectoparasites, and are well known from fleas and lice, both of which show evidence for convergences.

It is now realized that the locomotory action of the walking legs in an insect such as a cockroach is strikingly similar to that found in mammals whereby the posterior legs are primarily propulsive whereas the anterior set have a more complex function that includes braking.

The degree of similarity between the active sites in arthropod and molluscan haemocyanin has been called “remarkable” and “startling”, but actually suggests that wherever in the universe life employs copper for aerobic respiration it will call upon haemocyanin.

Read on if you want to know about the numerous animal equivalents to the invisible man...

Identification of alcohol tolerance (or lack thereof) in different animal groups is important because alcoholism in humans may have some genetic basis.

In bees detection of polarized light from different quadrants of the sky is an important component in their navigation.

Hearing has evolved independently in a number of groups, notably in the insects and vertebrates.

Moulting has, however, evolved independently in other groups, including the annelids where some polychaetes shed their jaws.

Defensive mimicry is usually Batesian, where an innocuous species adopts the colouration of a toxic species, but Mullerian mimicry is also known whereby one species, already toxic, converges on the colouration of a more common toxic species.

A very important component of complex brains is an effective barrier between the blood vascular system and the brain, both to regulate electrolyte balance (e.g. potassium) and exclude potentially harmful substances.