Evolution is normally a painstakingly slow process, by which organisms adapt to their surroundings through a slow but steady tinkering in their genes. As generations pass, the new traits are passed on to descendants, and only those that adapt the best, survive.
However, there are scenarios when evolution happens in a so-called 'blink of an eye'. Scientists have recently discovered that a new species of insect might have been created as a result of cross-species mating:). The process, called hybridisation, is common among plants (and indeed has been used to artificially create many interesting fruits). But this is the first time an animal species has evolved in nature, in this way.

Blueberry Maggot (Courtesy: USDA)The probable new species belongs to a group of flies known as fruit maggots – highly specialised fruit parasites in which each species infests its own particular plant species. Bruce McPheron and his colleagues at Pennsylvania State University found that a particular species, called the Honeysuckle maggots, looked like the result of hybridisation between two fruit maggot pests of native species, the Blueberry maggot and the Snowberry maggot:)). The honeysuckle maggots, it seems, contain a blend of genes found only in the blueberry and snowberry maggots.
The first hybrid generation of Snowberry and Blueberry offsprings would have exactly half the genes of each kind. The discovered Honeysuckle maggots have a wide variety of gene ratios, suggesting that they have been inter-breeding for at least a hundred generations or so!
If such hybridisations can lead to totally new insect morphology and behavior, this would mean a much faster evolution in insects than previously suspected. We therefore need to think if insects in the past have also indulged in such practices, and if yes, what modifications and re-evaluation it would bring to the currently accepted hierarchical classification of insects in the Animal Kingdom.