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Oldest Fossilised Winged Insect Yet Discovered

Posted by Hemos on from the from-the-wayback-machine dept.

tr0llb4rt0 writes "The Scientific American reports on an article in Nature (paid subscription required for full text) on how the fossilised mouth parts of an insect discovered in Scotland in 1928 has turned out to be the oldest winged insect yet discovered, pushing back the age of the earliest appearance of winged insects nearly 80 million years. Previos fossils of winged insects have dated to around 330 million years and scientist believe this new discovery lived between 408 and 438 million years ago. "

6 of 24 comments (clear)

  1. Oldest bug found. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yeah, it was infesting someone's Windows 3.11 system.

  2. Finally proof.. by Metex · · Score: 2, Funny

    that when I was young our stone tablet punchcards had bugs and man were they huge

    --
    Never could figure out why my girl liked my bitch tits, then I found out she was a lesbian.
  3. how old? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    "lived between 408 and 438 million years ago"... so it was 30 million years old? no wonder it went to live in Scotland!

    1. Re:how old? by cujo_1111 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Shouldn't it have moved to Florida?

      --
      If I point out that you are incorrect, making me a foe does not make you any more correct.
  4. Re:Protowings? by Glenda+Slagg · · Score: 3, Funny
    So something 420 million years ago liked to pull the wings off flies???

    Ah - the more things change, the more they stay the same...

    --
    - - Sha la la la . . .
  5. this conversation... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    [shivers]

    Silverfish...mandibles attaching to head capsule...chewing type...not known from silverfish...

    [shivers some more]