Insects are the largest animal group on Earth both in biomass and diversity. Their outstanding success has inspired genetics and developmental research, allowing the discovery of dynamic process explaining extreme phenotypic plasticity and canalization. Epigenetic molecular mechanisms (EMMs) are vital for several housekeeping functions in multicellular organisms, regulating developmental, ontogenetic trajectories and environmental adaptations. In Insecta, EMMs are involved in the development of extreme phenotypic divergences such as polyphenisms and eusocial castes. Here, we review the history of this research field and how the main EMMs found in insects help to understand their biological processes and diversity. EMMs in insects confer them rapid response capacity allowing insect either to change with plastic divergence or to keep constant when facing different stressors or stimuli. EMMs function both at intra as well as transgenerational scales, playing important roles in insect ecology and evolution. We discuss on how EMMs pervasive influences in Insecta require not only the control of gene expression but also the dynamic interplay of EMMs with further regulatory levels, including genetic, physiological, behavioral, and environmental among others, as was earlier proposed by the Probabilistic Epigenesis model and Developmental System Theory.

无论是生物量还是多样性，昆虫都是地球上最大的动物群。他们的杰出成就激发了遗传学和发育研究的灵感，使人们能够发现解释极端表型可塑性和渠道化的动态过程。表观遗传分子机制（EMM）对于多细胞生物中的几种管家功能，调节发育，个体发育轨迹和环境适应至关重要。在Insecta中，EMM参与了极端表型差异的发展，例如多态性和社会社会种姓。在这里，我们回顾了该研究领域的历史，以及在昆虫中发现的主要EMM如何帮助理解其生物学过程和多样性。昆虫中的EMM赋予它们快速的响应能力，使昆虫可以随着塑料的发散而变化，或者在面对不同的压力或刺激时保持恒定。EMM在内部和跨世代规模上均发挥作用，在昆虫生态学和进化中起着重要作用。我们讨论了EMM在昆虫纲中的普遍影响，不仅需要控制基因表达，而且还需要EMM与其他调节水平（包括遗传，生理，行为和环境等）的动态相互作用，如概率表观遗传学模型较早提出的那样。和发展系统理论。