the first insects appeared on earth in the silurian period.
the first insects appeared on earth in the silurian period.
when did the first insects appear on earth?
silurian period
the most recent understanding of the evolution of insects is based on studies of the following branches of science: molecular biology, insect morphology, paleontology, insect taxonomy, evolution, embryology, bioinformatics and scientific computing. it is estimated that the class of insects originated on earth about 480 million years ago, in the ordovician, at about the same time terrestrial plants appeared. insects evolved from a group of crustaceans. the first insects were land bound, but about 400 million years ago in the devonian period one lineage of insects evolved flight, the first animals to do so. the oldest insect fossil has been proposed to be "rhyniognatha hirsti", estimated to be 400 million years old, but the insect identity of the fossil has been contested. global climate conditions changed several times during the history of earth, and along with it the diversity of insects. the pterygotes (winged insects) underwent a major radiation in the carboniferous (356 to 299 million years ago) while the endopterygota (insects that go through different life stages with metamorphosis) underwent another major radiation in the permian (299 to 252 million years ago).
evolution of insects
pehr kalm, a swedish naturalist visiting pennsylvania and new jersey in 1749 on behalf of his nation's government, observed in late may the first of the three brood x emergences that banneker's journal later documented. when reporting the event in a paper that a swedish academic journal published in 1756, kalm wrote: the general opinion is that these insects appear in these fantastic numbers in every seventeenth year. meanwhile, except for an occasional one which may appear in the summer, they remain underground.there is considerable evidence that these insects appear every seventeenth year in pennsylvania.
mythology and commemorations of benjamin banneker