List of prehistoric insects
Prehistoric insects are various groups of insects that lived before recorded history. Their study is the field of paleoentomology. Insects inhabited Earth since before the time of the dinosaurs. The earliest identifiable insect is the Devonian Rhyniognatha hirsti, estimated at 407 to 396 million years ago. Forms similar to many modern insects had already evolved before the dawning of the dinosaur and lived alongside them and beyond up to the present day. Like today, prehistoric insects were an important part of the food chain in their time.
The differences between modern and prehistoric varieties can be essential, and, like many other creatures of prehistory, the latter tended to be much larger than their contemporary equivalents. This size difference is thought to be due to higher atmospheric oxygen levels (allowing diffusion through spiracles over greater distances), higher temperatures (enhancing metabolism), and the absence of birds as key predators of insect life.[1]
Since insects have chitin exoskeletons rather than mineralized bones, their burial processes differ compared to the fossils of much larger vertebrates such as dinosaurs. Many insect remains are found preserved in the hardened sap of ancient trees (amber).
Contents
Selected taxa
Incomplete list of prehistoric insects arranged by extinction date:
Devonian
| Name | Authors | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Tillyard, 1928 |
oldest described insect |
Carboniferous
| Name | Authors | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Brongniart, 1885 |
three described species |
||||
|
Ren, Nel & Prokop, 2008 |
A griffenfly |
Permian
Jurassic
| Name | Authors | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
A hangingfly |
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|
Li, Ren & Shih, 2008 |
A hangingfly |
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|
Petrulevicius, Huang & Ren, 2007 |
A hangingfly |
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|
Engel & Ren, 2008 |
A snakefly |
Cretaceous
| Name | Authors | Unit | Location | Notes | Images | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Dlussky, Brothers & Rasnitsyn, 2004 |
A myrmicin ant |
|||||
|
Dlussky, Brothers & Rasnitsyn, 2004 |
A ponerin ant, 2 species |
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|
Pérez-de la Fuente, et al, 2012 |
A snakefly |
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|
Pérez-de la Fuente, et al, 2012 |
A snakefly |
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|
Dlussky, 1983 |
Asia and Africa |
A family of "ant like wasps" |
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|
Engel, 2011 |
An earwig |
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|
Dlussky, 1996 |
A possible aneuretin ant, one species |
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|
Pérez-de la Fuente, et al, 2010 |
A snakefly |
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|
Olmi, Rasnitsyn & Guglielmino, 2010 |
An earwig |
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|
Chatzimanolis et al, 2010 |
A rove beetle |
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|
Dlussky, 1996 |
A sphecomyrmin ant, three species |
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|
Perrichot et al, 2008 |
A sphecomyrmin ant |
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|
McKellar, Glasier, & Engel, 2013 |
A sphecomyrmin ant |
|||||
|
Jepson, Ansorge & Jarzembowski, 2011 |
A snakefly |
|||||
|
Chatzimanolis et al, 2010 |
A rove beetle |
|||||
|
Bechly & Wolf-Schwenninger, 2011 |
A snakefly |
|||||
|
Oman, 1937 |
A leafhopper |
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|
Engel, 2002 |
A snakefly |
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|
Pérez-de la Fuente, et al, 2010 |
A snakefly |
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|
Brothers, 2011 |
A wasp of the extinct family Plumalexiidae |
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|
Makarkin & Menon, 2007 |
An Ithonidae lacewing. |
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|
Martynova, 1941 |
Europe & Asia |
A Jurassic - Cretaceous snakefly genus; three species |
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|
Engel & Ren, 2008 |
Europe & Asia |
A Jurassic - Cretaceous snakefly genus; two species |
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|
Engel & Grimaldi, 2014 |
An earwig |
|||||
|
Engel, 2011 |
An earwig |
|||||
|
Peng, Makarkin, Wang, & Ren, 2011 |
A silky lacewing |
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|
Barden & Grimaldi, 2013 |
A sphecomyrmin ant |
|||||
|
Engel & Grimaldi, 2014 |
An earwig |
Eocene
| Name | Authors | Unit | Location | Notes | Images | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Wheeler, 1910 |
||||||
|
Engel, 2011 |
||||||
|
Makarkin & Archibald, 2014 |
A possible psychopsid lacewing |
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|
Makarkin & Archibald, 2009 |
An Ithonidae moth lacewing |
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|
(Mayr, 1868) |
A dolichoderin ant |
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|
(Mayr, 1868) |
A dolichoderin ant |
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|
(Wheeler, 1915) |
A dolichoderin ant |
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|
Cockerell, 1906 |
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|
Cockerell, 1906 |
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|
Carpenter, 1930 |
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|
Carpenter, 1930 |
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|
Wheeler, 1915 |
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|
Wheeler, 1915 |
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|
Mayr, 1868 |
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|
Handlirsch, 1910 |
Horsefly beds |
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|
Cockerell, 1923 |
A myrmeciine ant genus, four species described |
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|
Carpenter, 1930 |
||||||
|
Yunakov & Kirejtshuk, 2011 |
A broad nosed weevil |
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|
Wheeler, 1915 |
A dolichoderine ant. |
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|
Archibald, Cover, & Moreau, 2006 |
A bulldog ant genus; three species known |
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|
Skalski, 1995 |
A metallic moth, two species |
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|
Gibson, 2009 |
||||||
|
Evenhuis, 2002 |
A Mythicomyiidae fly |
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|
(Ponomarenko, 1975) |
A dryinid wasp |
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|
Guglielmino & Olmi, 2011 |
A dryinid wasp |
|||||
|
Chaboo & Engel, 2009 |
A tortoise beetle |
|||||
|
Archibald, 2005 |
Canada and the United States |
A scorpion fly genus, six species |
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|
Cockerell, 1924 |
A scorpion fly |
|||||
|
Chatzimanolis & Engel, 2011 |
a rove beetle |
|||||
|
Tindale, 1985 |
A butterfly-moth |
|||||
|
Engel, 1995 |
A snake fly |
|||||
|
Brues, 1933 |
A crown wasp, 4 species |
|||||
|
Makarkin, Wedmann, & Weiterschan, 2014 |
Baltic amber |
An Ithonidae moth lacewing |
||||
|
Alexander, 1931 |
Baltic amber |
A limoniid crane fly |
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|
Shcherbakov, 2006 |
A plant-hopper |
|||||
|
Skalski, 1973 |
A concealer moth |
|||||
|
Archibald, Mathewes, & Greenwood, 2013 |
Okanagan Highlands |
A scorpionfly |
||||
|
Chaboo & Engel, 2009 |
A tortoise beetle |
|||||
|
Rice, 1968 |
A tenthredinid sawfly |
|||||
|
Carpenter, 1935 |
||||||
|
Engel, 1995 |
A snakefly |
|||||
|
John O. Westwood, 1854 |
North America and Europe |
A form genus of ants |
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|
Szwedo, 2007 |
A plant-hopper |
|||||
|
Engel & Archibald, 2003 |
||||||
|
Scudder, 1867 |
A scorpionfly |
|||||
|
Cockerell, 1922 |
A geometrid moth |
|||||
|
Archibald, Cover, & Moreau, 2006 |
||||||
|
Carpenter & Hull, 1939 |
A genus of pipunculids, 4 species |
|||||
|
Gibson, 2009 |
||||||
|
Archibald & Makarkin, 2004 |
A lacewing |
|||||
|
Archibald, Cover, & Moreau, 2006 |
Canada and the United States |
|||||
|
Engel & Grimaldi, 2011 |
A termite |
|||||
|
Gibson, 2009 |
||||||
|
Sinitchenkova, 1999 |
A mayfly |
|||||
|
Szwedo, 2011 |
A plant-hopper |
|||||
|
Cockerell, 1906 |
||||||
|
Dlussky & Radchenko, 2011 |
An ant |
|||||
|
Scudder, 1878 |
A butterfly |
|||||
|
Engel & Grimaldi, 2011 |
A termite |
|||||
|
Cockerell, 1906 |
||||||
|
Rice, 1968 |
A tenthredinid sawfly |
|||||
|
Engel, 2003 |
A snakefly |
|||||
|
Cockerell, 1917 |
A tortricid moth |
|||||
|
Cockerell, 1917 |
A tortricid moth |
|||||
|
Alekseev & Lord, 2014 |
Baltic amber |
A colydiin cylindrical bark beetle |
||||
|
Archibald, Cover, & Moreau, 2006 |
A bulldog ant genus |
|||||
|
Engel & Singh, 2011 |
A termite |
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Oligocene
| Name | Authors | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Scudder, 1877 |
myrmicin ant species, generic placement uncertain |
Miocene
| Name | Authors | Unit | Location | Notes | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 1994 |
A trap-jaw ant |
||||
|
De Andrade, 1998 |
A doryline ant |
||||
|
Lapolla, 2005 |
Oldest record of trophophoresy in ants |
||||
|
De Andrade, 1994 |
A ponerin ant |
||||
|
MacKay, 1991 |
A ponerin ant |
||||
|
De Andrade, 1994 |
A ponerin ant |
||||
|
De Andrade, 1994 |
A ponerin ant |
||||
|
De Andrade, 1994 |
A ponerin ant |
||||
|
De Andrade, 1994 |
A ponerin ant |
||||
|
De Andrade, 1994 |
A ponerin ant |
||||
|
Engel, 2012 |
A bee |
||||
|
De Andrade, 1995 |
A myrmicin ant |
||||
|
Fujiyama, 1970 |
A myrmicin ant |
||||
|
De Andrade, 1995 |
A myrmicin ant |
||||
|
Schultz, 2007 |
A myrmicin fungus farming ant |
||||
|
Schultz, 2007 |
A myrmicin fungus farming ant |
||||
|
Heer, 1849 |
A formicine ant. |
||||
|
Engel, 1995 |
|||||
|
Engel & Grimaldi, 2007 |
Mexican Amber |
||||
|
Engel & Grimaldi, 2007 |
Dominican amber |
A mantidfly |
|||
|
Olmi, 1995 |
A dryinid wasp |
||||
|
Olmi & Guglielmino, 2011 |
A dryinid wasp |
||||
|
Michener & Poinar, 1996 |
A sweat bee |
||||
|
Williams, 2001 |
A mealybug; three described species |
||||
Heads, Thomas, & Wang, 2014 |
A tetrigid grasshopper. |
||||
|
Poinar, 2006 |
Dominican Amber |
A mantidfly |
|||
|
Henderickx, 2012 |
Late Oligocene - Early Miocene; An ensign wasp |
||||
|
Engel, 2009 |
A pteromalid wasp |
||||
|
Poinar, 2008 |
A phlebotomid fly |
||||
|
Krishna & Emerson, 1983 |
Late Oligocene - Early Miocene |
||||
|
Engel, 1995 |
A sweat bee |
||||
|
Engel, 2009 |
A sweat bee |
||||
|
Fernández-Rubio & Nel, 2000 |
A zygaenid moth |
||||
|
Engel, 1996 |
A sweat bee genus, six species |
||||
|
Snyder & Emerson, 1949 |
North America, Europe, India |
A termite genus; |
|||
|
Brazil & Andrade Filho, 2002 |
A phlebotomin fly |
||||
|
Engel & Grimaldi, 2007 |
An alderfly |
||||
|
Woodruff, 2009 |
A stag beetle |
||||
|
Mohrig & Solórzano Kraemer, 2007 |
Late Oligocene - Early Miocene; A sciarid fly |
||||
|
Szwedo, 2001 |
A plant-hopper |
||||
|
Grimaldi & Engel, 2008 |
A termite bug |
||||
|
Poinar, 2011 |
A termite bug |
||||
|
Engel, 2009 |
A termite bug |
||||
|
Brongniart, 1885 |
Late Oligocene - Early Miocene; A termite bug |
||||
|
Poinar, 2005 |
An assassin bug |
_rotated.JPG)
See also
References
- ↑ Giant prehistoric insects shrank to escape developing birds, Bloomberg News, 4 June 2012
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- ↑ 54.0 54.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Cite error: Invalid
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External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fossil Insecta. |
- Insects in the Age of Reptiles
- Insect Fossils A timechart and evolutionary history
- International Palaeoentomological Society
- Palaeoentomology in Russia in both English and Russian
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