This process, whereby species evolve rapidly to exploit empty ecospace, is known as adaptive radiation. In his memoir, The Voyage of the Beagle, Darwin noted, almost as if in awe, "One might ...

Weevils are a diverse group of herbivorous beetles (~62,000 species) with extremely divergent ... Losos, J. B. Adaptive radiation, ecological opportunity, and evolutionary determinism.

"Without speciation, there would be no diversification of the organic world, no adaptive radiation, and very little evolutionary progress. The species, then, is the keystone of evolution." ...