Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                
Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

New light shed on the oldest insect

Nature volume 427, pages 627–630 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Insects are the most diverse lineage of all life in numbers of species, and ecologically they dominate terrestrial ecosystems. However, how and when this immense radiation of animals originated is unclear. Only a few fossils provide insight into the earliest stages of insect evolution, and among them are specimens in chert from Rhynie, Scotland's Old Red Sandstone (Pragian; about 396–407 million years ago1), which is only slightly younger than formations harbouring the earliest terrestrial faunas. The most well-known animal from Rhynie is the springtail Rhyniella praecursor (Entognatha; Collembola), long considered to be the oldest hexapod2,3. For true insects (Ectognatha), the oldest records are two apparent wingless insects from later in the Devonian period of North America4,5. Here we show, however, that a fragmentary fossil from Rhynie, Rhyniognatha hirsti, is not only the earliest true insect but may be relatively derived within basal Ectognatha. In fact, Rhyniognatha has derived characters shared with winged insects, suggesting that the origin of wings may have been earlier than previously believed. Regardless, Rhyniognatha indicates that insects originated in the Silurian period and were members of some of the earliest terrestrial faunas.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Remains of the oldest fossil insect.
Figure 2: Phylogeny of basal hexapod orders16.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Rice, C. M. et al. A Devonian auriferous hot spring system, Rhynie, Scotland. J. Geol. Soc. 152, 229–250 (1995)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Hirst, S. & Maulik, S. On some arthropod remains from the Rhynie Chert (Old Red Sandstone). Geol. Mag. 63, 69–71 (1926)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Whalley, P. & Jarzembowski, E. A. A new assessment of Rhyniella, the earliest known insect, from the Devonian of Rhynie, Scotland. Nature 291, 317 (1981)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Labandeira, C. C., Beall, B. S. & Hueber, F. M. Early insect diversification: Evidence from a Lower Devonian bristletail from Québec. Science 242, 913–916 (1988)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Shear, W. A. et al. Early land animals in North America: Evidence from Devonian age arthropods from Gilboa, New York. Science 224, 492–494 (1984)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Hennig, W. Insect Phylogeny (John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1981)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Kristensen, N. P. in The Insects of Australia (ed. Naumann, I. D.) 125–140 (Cornell Univ. Press, Ithaca, New York, 1991)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Jeram, A. J., Selden, P. A. & Edwards, D. Land animals in the Silurian: Arachnids and myriapods from Shropshire, England. Science 250, 658–661 (1990)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Tillyard, R. J. Some remarks on the Devonian fossil insects from the Rhynie chert beds, Old Red Sandstone. Trans. Entomol. Soc. Lond. 76, 65–71 (1928)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Scourfield, D. J. The oldest known fossil insect. Nature 145, 799–801 (1940)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Carpenter, F. M. in Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part R: Arthopoda 4: Superclass Hexapoda (ed. Kaesler, R. L.) 1–655 (Geol. Soc. Am., Boulder, Colorado, 1992)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Rasnitsyn, A. P. & Quicke, D. L. J. History of Insects (Kluwer, Dordrecht, Netherlands, 2002)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  13. Kühne, W. G. & Schlüter, T. A fair deal for the Devonian Arthropoda fauna of Rhynie. Entomol. Gen. 11, 91–96 (1985)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Staniczek, A. H. The mandible of silverfish (Insecta: Zygentoma) and mayflies (Ephemeroptera): Its morphology and phylogenetic significance. Zool. Anz. 239, 147–178 (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Fürst von Lieven, A. The transformation from monocondylous to dicondylous mandibles in the Insecta. Zool. Anz. 239, 139–146 (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Wheeler, W. C., Whiting, M., Wheeler, Q. D. & Carpenter, J. M. The phylogeny of the extant hexapod orders. Cladistics 17, 113–169 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Labandeira, C. Insect mouthparts: Ascertaining the paleobiology of insect feeding strategies. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 28, 153–193 (1997)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Brauckmann, C., Brauckmann, B. & Gröning, E. The stratigraphical position of the oldest known Pterygota (Insecta. Carboniferous, Namurian). Ann. Soc. Geol. Belg. 117, 47–56 (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Grimaldi, D. Insect evolutionary history from Handlirsch to Hennig, and beyond. J. Paleontol. 75, 1152–1160 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Gaunt, M. W. & Miles, M. A. An insect molecular clock dates the origin of the insects and accords with palaeontological and biogeographic landmarks. Mol. Biol. Evol. 19, 748–761 (2002)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Dudley, R. The Biomechanics of Insect Flight: Form, Function, Evolution (Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 2000)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Berner, R. A. & Canfield, D. E. A new model for atmospheric oxygen over Phanerozoic time. Am. J. Sci. 289, 333–361 (1989)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Kukalová-Peck, J. in The Insects of Australia (ed. Naumann, I. D.) 141–179 (Cornell Univ. Press, Ithaca, New York, 1991)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Hasenfuss, I. A possible evolutionary pathway to insect flight starting from lepismatid organization. J. Zool. Syst. Evol. Res. 40, 65–81 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Chiappe, L. The first 85 million years of avian evolution. Nature 378, 349–355 (1995)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Novacek, M. J. Fossils, topologies, missing data, and the higher level phylogeny of eutherian mammals. Syst. Biol. 41, 58–73 (1992)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Edwards, D., Selden, P. A., Richardson, J. B. & Axe, L. Coprolites as evidence for plant–animal interactions in Siluro-Devonian terrestrial ecosystems. Nature 377, 329–331 (1995)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Gensel, P. G. & Andrews, H. N. Plant Life in the Devonian (Praeger, New York, 1984)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Alego, T. J., Scheckler, S. E. & Maynard, J. B. in Plants Invade the Land (eds Gensel, P. G. & Edwards, D.) 213–236 (Columbia Univ. Press, New York, 2001)

    Google Scholar 

  30. Wellman, C. H., Osterloff, P. L. & Mohiuddin, U. Fragments of the earliest land plants. Nature 425, 282–285 (2003)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank A. J. Ross for loan of the material discussed herein and M. G. Rightmyer for comments on and support of the study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Entomology, Natural History Museum, and Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Snow Hall, University of Kansas, 1460 Jayhawk Blvd, Lawrence, Kansas, 66045-7523, USA

    Michael S. Engel

  2. Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, New York, 10024-5192, USA

    David A. Grimaldi

Authors
  1. Michael S. Engel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. David A. Grimaldi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael S. Engel.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Engel, M., Grimaldi, D. New light shed on the oldest insect. Nature 427, 627–630 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02291

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02291

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing