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Kingdom:  Animalia
Phylum:  Arthropoda
Class:  Insecta
Order:  Coleoptera
Family:  Lampyridae
Genus:  Photinus
Species: pyralis

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Kingdom:  Animalia
Phylum:  Arthropoda
Class:  Insecta
Order:  Endopterygota
Family:  Cleoptera
Genus:  conotrachelus
Species: posticatus

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Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum:  Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order:  Orthoptera
Family:  Gryllidae
Genus:  Gryllus
Species:  pennsylvanicus

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Taxonomy can explain how the three exemplary organisms all evolved however share similar characteristics that allow them to be placed in the same Kingdom and Phylum. The beetle and firefly are very similar showing how they evolved from the same ancestors.

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Natural Selection plays a large role in Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. Beetles and fireflies evolved using a type of natural selection called directional selection where an extreme phenotype is favored over other phenotype allowing the allele frequency to shift. The firefly inherited phenotype from the beetle and became it's own species through having the ability to glow. The glowing ability was beneficial in the fireflies habitat at the time being the rain forest, allowing them to keep these phenotype traits they inherited from the beetle and pass it down to their offspring every generation after. Those that did not gain the ability to glow failed to reproduce and therefore dead off in their environments.
Natural Selection also applies to the cricket population

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Descent with modification is on of the main concepts behind Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The definition of it is basically the passing of trains from parent to offspring that allow the offspring to inherit these traits in order to live comfortably within the environment.  All insects in the Class Insecta such as crickets, beetles, fireflies, grasshoppers, ants, and thousands of others support the theory behind descent with modification because over generations of insects the same beneficial characteristics are pasted down to offspring allowing reproduction to be effective and continuously occur.
Characteristics Passed Down for Crickets
1. Large and noisy wings for communication
2. Long think antennas used to sense and hear their surroundings
3. Either green or brown color to blend in and become camouflaged in their habitat to escape predators.
Characteristics Passed Down for Beetles
1. Hard outer shell to keep body protected
2. light and small wings allowing them to fly on branches
3. specific color to blend into their environment safely.
Characteristics Passed Down for Fireflies
1. Ability to glow inorder to communicate and reproduce
2. light and small wings to fly quickly and escape predators
3. Many similar characteristics of their ancestor beetles.

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Adaptive Radiation is one of the leading evolutionary causes in insects. Adaptive Radiation occurs when the same species of organisms diverge into a variety of adaptive forms. This is common in all insects because they are found all over the world allowing them to always change and evolve in order to live in their specific habitat.
Beetles
Adaptive radiation is defiantly found in beetles because they live on almost every continent of the world and must change their characteristics based on where they live. An example of this is that beetles living in marshes and swamps must adapt to their environment differently through being smaller to float on the top of water, while beetles in forests must have larger wings to fly higher up branches and trees.
Crickets
Crickets also have undergone adaptive radiation in their different environments through changing their colors to blend in with their surroundings. An example of this includes Gryllidae crickets are brown and found in woods, bark, and forests. The brown color gives them the ability to blend in within the trees in their habitats. The Oecanthinae crickets that are either green or white are found in marshes and swamps tend to blend in with high green grasses within their environments.
Fireflies
Fireflies also evolved through adaptive radiation because depending on their location in the world, it determines how much light they produce. For example firefly species found in North America and Asia do not produce nearly as much light as those that live in South American rain forests or Australian jungles. Fireflies in South America and Australia need greater amount of light to be produced because the opposite sex must see and use the light through communication. In rain forests it is extremely challenging to see because the sky is covered by large trees. This lack of light causes fireflies to produce greater amounts of light that can give them the ability to reproduce effectively.

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Immigration evolution occurs when organisms arrive in a new environment and must learn how to adapt to the habitat in order to survive. This type of evolution began for crickets and beetles when they went from Asia to the Brazilian rain forests over time through migration and relocation. In the rain forests, it has been found that both organisms had to adapt to the changes in their new environment through gaining larger wings. These larger wings during immigration were beneficial to the crickets because they could make louder sounds in their habitat in order to be heard in the loud rain forest environment.  Crickets and beetles new home in the rain forest was extremely competitive and therefore made the beetle species gain lighter and faster wings that allowed them to escape predators quickly in their habitat.

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Convergent evolution occurs when organisms who are not closely related independently evolve to gain similar traits. These similar traits allow them to live effectively within their environments. This type of evolution can be proven to have happened between the cricket and beetle who both lived in the Brazilian rain forest millions of years ago and evolved in order to safely live in the complex ecosystem. The two species evolved to adapt to their environments through gaining longer antennas that helped them sense and hear over the loud sounds and large amounts of organisms living in the diverse rain forests. These long antennas that they inherited aloud them to survive and overtime were passed down to every generation of beetles and crickets.
Divergent Evolution
Divergent evolution occurs when organisms who come from the same ancestor diverged into two separate species in order to live within their specific habitat. This type of evolution occurred between the firefly and beetle around 299 million years ago when they each came from a common ancestor being an Asian beetle. A mutation then occurred in a beetle that gave it the ability to glow. This ability to glow was beneficial for this specific beetle population within their environment because it allowed them to communicate with the opposite sex and reproduce. This lead to the wide spread of firefly population as it was passed down to offspring overtime creating a new species.

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Speciation of Cricket from Beetle
The cricket evolved gradually over time from the beetle around 125 million years ago, when the crickets gained similar physical characteristics from that of the beetle, in wing length, body composition and the usage of antennas for hearing and sensing. This emerged gradually when beetles and crickets were found in the Brazilian rain forest and it was necessary for crickets to gain wings like beetles to communicate with the opposite mate in order to reproduce, and grow antennas to pay sharp attention to their surroundings. These physical characteristics that the cricket inherited from the cricket occurred gradually over time until all crickets had these features during natural selection.
Speciation of Firefly from Beetle
The firefly evolution is still not fully developed however it can be inferred that the firefly under went punctuated equilibrium where the beetle species had a mutation causing it to inherent beneficial characteristics to live easier in their environment. This mutation spread rapidly through generations of beetles causing them to gain the ability to glow. This positive mutation in beetles allowed them to become fireflies, and use their glowing characteristics to communicate in dark forest populations that covered the skies in trees.

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The fossil records found throughout the world can represent the evolution that emerged between the cricket and beetle population over time. The beetle is one of the oldest insects found on the earth located in places like Asia and European countries 299 million years ago. Crickets evolved from these beetles through convergent evolution because they adopted similar features such as body shape and wing sizes. The cricket gained these characteristics when they immigrated to South America where they used the wing characteristic from beetles to live safely in the rain forest and swamp like habitats.

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Fossil #1- Beetle
Beetles originated during the Lower Permian  up to 299 million years ago. In 2009, a fossil beetle was described from the Pennsylvanian of Mazon Creek, Illinois, pushing the origin of the beetles to an earlier date, 318 to 299 million years ago. Fossils from this time have been found in Asia and Europe.
Fossil #2-  Cricket
This fossil was found  in the order Orthoptera where it was discovered in the Crato Formation of Brazil, 108m to 92m years old.
Fossil #3- Cricket
100 million-year-old ancestor of a group of large, carnivorous, cricket-like insects that still live today in southern Asia, northern Indochina and Africa. The new find corrects the mistaken classification of another fossil of this type and reveals that the genus has undergone very little evolutionary change since the Early Cretaceous Period.
Fossil #4- Beetle
47 million years old, from Messel, Germany and called the Leaf beetle. This beetle type is small and round while still found in many diverse climates.
Fossil #5-  Beetle

This beetle is from the aquatic family from the noteridae family and  santana family that can be found within Brazil. It is 125 million years old with a size of 7mm.

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Evidence of Evolution: Chromosomal Analysis 

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Evidence of Evolution: Chromosomal Analysis 

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Sex Chromosomes:
The sex chromosomes of crickets are males with X and females with XX while the Y chromosome is completely lost. The beetle and firefly both originated from the fruit fly, allowing their sex chromosomes to be XX for female and XY for male. The beetle's sex chromosomes are similar to that of many other insects however the cricket follows a XO structure with the male only containing a single X chromosome, with sex being determined by the genes expressed across the two chromosomes.

Chromosomal Evolution
Crickets: 77 chromosomes
Beetle: 26 chromosomes
Firefly: 19

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Evidence of Evolution: Anatomy and Physiology

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Evidence of Evolution: Anatomy and Physiology

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All three organisms have evolved from one another however still share similar physical characteristics that provide evidence that they were once very similar in their appearance. Examples of this is how rather than communicating with their mouths, all three use other methods to communicate with the opposite sex in order to reproduce. They are also similar in size and shape indicating how over time their physicality stayed the same.

Reproduction Similarities
The beetle reproduces through communicating with the opposite sex in sound vibrations that they produce with their wings and send to the opposite sex while mating. The cricket also uses their wings to reproduce by creating loud sounds of song like patterns to attract mates. The lightening bug differs but uses it's light mechanism to flash flights at curtain speeds that attract mates as well. These abilities to communicate are very similar in that they use their wings and other body parts to communicate in order to reproduce.

Structural Similarities
The beetle species and firefly have almost exact same bodies because the firefly originated from the beetle millions of years ago. Both rage in sizes from 0.04-2 inches, with curved bottoms and light wings allowing them to fly quickly away from predators. The firefly evolved from the beetle becoming smaller in size with the intended purpose to blend in comfortably with their surroundings. Crickets structures are similar to the beetle and firefly in the antenna structure and usage. All three insects lack the ability to hear and taste and therefore use the antenna as sensors to hear other organisms and sense other organisms presents. Through fossil evidence it has also been found that the crickets antennas have grew over time as the cricket population have needed them to hear the sounds crickets make with their wings a lot more as their habitats grew more diverse over time.

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Evidence to Support Evolution: Embryology

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Evidence to Support Evolution: Embryology

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The beetle, cricket, and firefly all were said to have developed over 406 million years ago during the Devonian Period, in the continent of Asia and other warm climates such as Australia and South America. During their evolution process they evolved in order to survive differently within their habitat. Food was a necessity of survival as well as reproduction and escaping predators. All three organisms evolved due to these elements so they could live safely and effectively in their environments.

Beetle Embryology
Beetle's are very similar to the size and characteristics of lightening bugs and crickets however evolved to having long and light wings in order to safely and effectively survive within their environment 406 million years ago. They were one of the first insects to walk the face of the earth, and many other insects have evolved from the beetle because they live so effectively in their habitats. Beetles pollinate plants as well as eat bark and small organisms off of trees. As plants and trees within their environment grew, beetles needed to contain lighter and smaller wings that helped them quickly fly up to trees to get food, while also pollinating different plants within their environment. Up to this day a beetles wings assist them in doing this allowing them to consume food and live effectively in their habitats.

Cricket Embryology
Crickets used to be silent and their wings would never be noisy because they evolved from the Odonata species. This was until competition within their environment increased and they began having larger wings that "sang" with the intended purpose to attract the opposite sex and find a mate to reproduce. Crickets were said to have begun making sounds with their wings during the Jurassic period, when their environments became complex and diverse such as the rain forests in South America. This habitats were becoming over populated with other species making it hard for them to find someone to mate with unless they got their attention through song and noises.

Firefly Embryology
It has been proven through DNA and fossil evidence that the firefly species is in fact not a fly but a beetle. Fireflies evolved from the beetle millions of years ago in the South American habitats. They evolved from beetles in order to safely live in the highly competitive habitats they lived in. Their light shining allowed them to attract mates. When shining they are attempting to find a lightening bug to reproduce with. They did this in their environment because they were found in the Amazon where it is nearly impossible to see at night with the stares and moon hidden by large trees. This cause them to keep their glow in order to reproduce.

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Simiarities

The timeline established by researchers indicates that these three insects likely started colonizing the planet at around the same time as plants, and in some cases, even earlier. Flying insects evolved after complex ecosystems had already developed on land, about 406 million years ago, during the Early Devonian Period. Fossils and DNA evidence have supported how long these insects have lived on the earth.
All three insects (crickets, beetles, and fireflies) also share a characteristic of the ability to pollinate, , making plants play a key role in their evolution process and habitat location. Plants evolution directly impact the insects evolution.This will be explained in depth later on in the presentation.

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External Characteristics
An insect body is divided into three general regions: the head, thorax, and abdomen. On the head there contains a pair of antennae, eyes, and specialized mouth parts that are used for chewing, sucking or even piercing.

The abdomen contains internal structures such as the digestive system and reproductive organs where stingers on stinging insects are found. Insects also have a skeleton on the exterior of their body called an exoskeleton. The exoskeleton is made of a tough material called chitin.

The thorax or midsection contains features that make it possible for the insect to get around. Insects have six legs that are attached to the thorax.
Internal Characteristics

Circulatory System- an insect's blood unlike humans fills the whole body of the insect and fills all the organs and muscles. The blood is circulated by a long tube that lies just under the exoskeleton of the back. This tube extends almost the entire length of the body.  Blood enters the tube through little openings along the sides.

Digestive System-  an insect as a long tube that extends from the mouth to the anus. The tube has three main divisions: (1) the foregut; (2) the midgut, or stomach; (3) the hindgut, or intestine.

Respiratory System- insects can breathe by means of tiny holes called spiracles along the sides of its body. Each hole leads into a large tube called a trachea.
Behavioral Characteristics

Reproduction- Insects reproduce through a method called internal fertilization this means the  eggs are fertilized in the mother's body but the mother lays the eggs to hatch.

Maintaining food- Half of insects are plant-eaters feeding on roots, plants, and leaves. Others are predators that feed off of smaller creatures. Some are also parasites such are ticks and fleas that eat the flesh and blood of other animals.
Habitats

Insects are found all over the world in every continent. Most insects are prone to warm and wet weather while others adapt well to the cold and in underground habitats. Flying insects such as beetles, butterflies, and moths migrate when the weather gets cold.

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Location and Habitat: crickets live in meadows, pastures, and swamps. They are found in tall grass and can live in almost any weather condition except the cold. They drink and eat great amounts of food, and are known to die from dehydration. Due to this many of them live near swamps and marshes to stay hydrated.

Physical characteristics- Crickets have three main parts the head, thorax and abdomen. The head holds  the cricket's compound and simple eyes, mouth and antennae. The legs and wings are attached to the thorax while the largest part of the cricket's body, the abdomen, contains the cricket's heart, digestive system and other organs. Female crickets have a large ovipositor at the end of their abdomen which they use to deposit their eggs into the ground.
Crickets hear with their legs. They have a tiny "eardrum" just behind their knees that helps them pick up the vibrations of sound. Crickets also use their long antennae to sense things around them and to detect smells

Behavioral Characteristics- Crickets sing to attract a mate. The male cricket sings a song that is specific to his species so that the female of his species can find him. Their chirp is also determined partly by the weather. When it is warm, they chirp quickly. When it is cold, they chirp at a slower pace.

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Location and Habitat-  found in nearly every different habitat on Earth and are only absent from the freezing polar regions.

Physical Characteristics-  comprised of three sections all coated in a hard outer shell. Three sections include the head of the beetle, the thorax of the beetle and the abdomen of the beetle. Beetles also have antennae which are used to understand their surroundings and are made of about 10 different sections.

Behavioral Characteristics-  Beetles play a vital role in whichever ecosystems they are in because they consume the debris from plants and animals. They also nourish the soil because they are consuming a large proportion of the compounds that would otherwise be absorbed into the soil such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen.

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Location and Habitat- Found all over the world and live in forests and fields. They typically follow the rainy season however they have the ability to live in any climate. They love humid environments with tall grass and standing waters.

Physical Characteristics- Fireflies have three main body parts. A head which is in the front. A thorax in the middle and a abdomen in the back. They have six legs and  four wings. They have antennas to speak to each other. Also they have the ability to glow in order to attract the opposite sex.

Behavioral Characteristics- Fireflies have the ability to emit light in order to attract mates and reproduce. Fireflies are also a type of beetle and originated from the beetle species.