Re: Out of order fossils
Karen G. Jensen (kjensen@calweb.com)
Wed, 17 Feb 1999 23:30:52 -0600>Karen G. Jensen wrote:
>>
>> Does anyone on the list know about these claims of Devonian insects?
>>
>> I read about finds of centepedes, arachnids, and insect remains preserved
>> in exquisite detail in Devonian rock form upstate New York, "similar to
>> modern forms" (Science News 123:356-357, June 4, 1983) -- have these been
>> found to be contamination?
>
> Shear, W.A., Bonamo, P.M., Grierson, J.D., Rolfe, W.D.I., Smith, E.L., &
> Norton, R.A. 1984. Early land animals in North America: Evidence from
> Devonian age arthropods from Gilboa, New York. Science 224, 492-494.
>
> You might also be interested in:
>
> Whalley, P. & Jarzembowski, E.A. 1981. A new assessment of Rhyniella, the
> earliest known insect, from the Devonian of Rhynie, Scotland. Nature
>291, 317.
>
Thanks for the references!
> I'm not current with the latest discoveries since then so can't comment much
>more than to say that it's always been thought that the evolutionary
>development
>of the insects (and other land-dwelling arthropoda) was closely tied to the
>evolutionary development of land plants (a whole new ecosystem to exploit!).
>
In that light, it is a puzzle that there are so few Mesozoic insects, when
the first flowering plants to be preserved had entomophyllous pollen.
Karen