A team of paleobiologists and zoologists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Linyi University and Wageningen University has found evidence that the evolution of insect-eating birds likely drove relatively swift changes to the wings of ancient cicadas. In their , published in Science Advances, the group examined evolutional changes in more than 80 species of cicada wings during the Mesozoic era.

Scientists have been studying the evolutionary history of the development of flight in various creatures for hundreds of years. Unfortunately, little evidence has been found to substantiate theories because wings are typically flimsy and thus do not preserve well, so there are few fossilized specimens.

One exception is cicadas, which have unique wing characteristics. In this new study, the research team created a timeline of sorts, showing how the wing shape of cicadas evolved over millions of years as they faced new forms of predation by rapidly evolving birds.

The researchers used 300 mapping data points on the wings of multiple species of ancient cicadas. The research team found that in their earlier years, cicadas typically had wingspans similar to modern butterflies, with some stretching to as much as 6 inches across.

But over the course of approximately 160 million years, the wings across all species began to grow a little wider even as they became slimmer. The ancient insects also gained a lot of wing muscle mass. The changes, the researchers contend, would have allowed the cicadas to fly up to 39% faster.

Noting that there must have been a good reason for cicadas to become faster鈥攄oing so burns up more energy, after all鈥攖he researchers looked for a possible source. They found that the changes in cicada wings coincided with birds evolving the ability to catch bugs in mid-flight. To survive, the cicadas had to fly fast enough to escape being caught and eaten.

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