Some misconceptions or preconceived ideas on the history of the Insects

The Hexapoda is the most diverse clade of the history of life. They cannot be considered as the oldest terrestrial animals and the first Hexapoda were small apterous animals of the Devonian soil fauna, apparently not very diverse and “dominated” by myriapods and arachnids at that time. Things dramat...

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Main Author: Nel André
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: EDP Sciences 2015-01-01
Series:BIO Web of Conferences
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/bioconf/20150400006
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author Nel André
author_facet Nel André
author_sort Nel André
collection DOAJ
description The Hexapoda is the most diverse clade of the history of life. They cannot be considered as the oldest terrestrial animals and the first Hexapoda were small apterous animals of the Devonian soil fauna, apparently not very diverse and “dominated” by myriapods and arachnids at that time. Things dramatically changed during the Early Carboniferous with the appearance and the expansion of the winged insects. This crucial innovation allowed this clade to diversify in a spectacular way in the Late Carboniferous. The main clades were already present at the end of this period, viz. Palaeoptera, “Polyneoptera”, Paraneoptera and Holometabola. The latter two groups became truly diverse and began to dominate the animal kingdom after the major Permo-Triassic biodiversity crisis. Nevertheless a causal link is difficult to establish between the two phenomena. After the Triassic, all insect orders are present and many modern families are as old as the Jurassic, a situation completely different from that of the terrestrial vertebrates. The last major change in the hexapods took place about 100 Ma ago, and may be linked with the mid-Cretaceous angiosperm diversification, but apparently not with the supposed major crisis of diversity at the end of the Cretaceous.
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spelling doaj.art-748cff6af33a48a9b5aa2a0834de76732022-12-21T22:51:02ZengEDP SciencesBIO Web of Conferences2117-44582015-01-0140000610.1051/bioconf/20150400006bioconf-origins2015_00006Some misconceptions or preconceived ideas on the history of the InsectsNel AndréThe Hexapoda is the most diverse clade of the history of life. They cannot be considered as the oldest terrestrial animals and the first Hexapoda were small apterous animals of the Devonian soil fauna, apparently not very diverse and “dominated” by myriapods and arachnids at that time. Things dramatically changed during the Early Carboniferous with the appearance and the expansion of the winged insects. This crucial innovation allowed this clade to diversify in a spectacular way in the Late Carboniferous. The main clades were already present at the end of this period, viz. Palaeoptera, “Polyneoptera”, Paraneoptera and Holometabola. The latter two groups became truly diverse and began to dominate the animal kingdom after the major Permo-Triassic biodiversity crisis. Nevertheless a causal link is difficult to establish between the two phenomena. After the Triassic, all insect orders are present and many modern families are as old as the Jurassic, a situation completely different from that of the terrestrial vertebrates. The last major change in the hexapods took place about 100 Ma ago, and may be linked with the mid-Cretaceous angiosperm diversification, but apparently not with the supposed major crisis of diversity at the end of the Cretaceous.http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/bioconf/20150400006
spellingShingle Nel André
Some misconceptions or preconceived ideas on the history of the Insects
BIO Web of Conferences
title Some misconceptions or preconceived ideas on the history of the Insects
title_full Some misconceptions or preconceived ideas on the history of the Insects
title_fullStr Some misconceptions or preconceived ideas on the history of the Insects
title_full_unstemmed Some misconceptions or preconceived ideas on the history of the Insects
title_short Some misconceptions or preconceived ideas on the history of the Insects
title_sort some misconceptions or preconceived ideas on the history of the insects
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/bioconf/20150400006
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