Over 100 scientists from 16 countries have conclusively concluded that insects began life around 480 million years ago, and gained the ability to fly 80 million years into the future. This is one of the biggest questions scientists were unable to answer, but that is no longer the case today.

According to Director of CSIRO's Australian National Insect Collection, David Yeates, the first insects were similar to the silverfish we know today. Furthermore, he went on to claim that dragonflies and mayflies were the first insects to develop wings. This happened approximately 400 million years in the past.

"Our research shows that insects originated at the same time as the earliest land-based plants, about 480 million years ago," according to Yeates.

"These first insects were probably similar to today's silverfish.

"Then, about 400 million years ago, ancient ancestors of today's dragonflies and mayflies were the first to develop wings - giving them the ability to fly long before any other animal could do so."


He also pointed out that during the time insects were developing wings to fly, land-based plants were also evolving. The plans developed the ability to grow taller, a move of adapting to the ever changing environment.

Additionally, some dragonflies managed to develop wings that spanned 70cm. They also developed dangerous mandibles, which means these dragonflies of the past were not be trifled with. They were predators, and likely ate meat instead of other insects.

The study also shows that insects are more capable of adapting to changing environments faster when compared to animals. When the biodiversity crisis led to a mass extinction of creatures on the land, dinosaurs and other mammals were affected in a huge way, but insects managed to survive and live as if nothing had happened.

According to Professor Bernhard Misof from the Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig in Bonn, Germany, the largest amount of species on earth are insects. This doesn't come as a surprise as several of these little creatures can survive almost anywhere.

These creatures are also necessary where modern medicine is concerned. In addition, they are also important when it comes down to protecting plants, but some are also the cause of destroying of crops.

"They are of immense ecological, economic and medical importance and affect our daily lives, from pollinating our crops to vectoring diseases," Professor Misof said.

"We can only start to understand the enormous species richness and ecological importance of insects with a reliable reconstruction of how they are related."

We are interested to see what else scientists can locate about these creatures, because they good very well live on long after we are gone.

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