Insect dispersal is often inferred from single traits or single movement measurements, yet realized displacement emerges from interactions among morphology, physiological capacity, behavioral propensity, and environmental opportunity. This scoping review examines how those domains have been studied together or separately and identifies the inferential limits of treating any one of them as a universal dispersal proxy. Peer-reviewed literature published during 2017–2022 was mapped using insect and dispersal terms combined with morphology, physiology, behavior, landscape, and movement-measurement concepts. Evidence was charted by taxon, biological level, setting, focal construct, measurement class, and inference stage. Because source-specific search and selection counts were not available in the documented search record, no numerical screening or inclusion totals are reconstructed. The literature supports a heterogeneous view of dispersal. Wing form and body size can relate to flight performance or movement strategy, but their interpretation changes with environmental context and measurement method. Physiological studies identify energetic, thermal, muscular, endocrine, and transcriptomic correlates of flight-related states, whereas behavioral studies show that sex, reproductive context, social environment, habitat structure, and generation can alter movement propensity. These domains therefore cannot be collapsed into a single trait axis without losing biological and methodological distinctions. The review develops a proposed cross-domain interpretation of insect dispersal syndromes in which trait architecture, physiological state, behavioral decision-making, and landscape opportunity are treated as separable but interacting components. The framework is intended for evidence organization and hypothesis generation, not as a validated predictive model.
