Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 12.4: Geological Time Scale in Millions of Years and Types of Fossil Insects Found.
Era
Period
Epoch
Began mya
a
Extinct
and extant fossil insect orders first
found
Cenozoic
Quaternary
Recent
Protura, Zoraptera, and Phthiraptera first
appeared in fossil record
Pleistocene
1.6
Tertiary
Pliocene
5
Miocene
25
Oligocene
35
Eocene
60
Mantodea first appeared in fossil record
Paleocene
65
Mesozoic
Cretaceous
145
Isoptera first appeared in fossil record
Jurassic
210
Dermaptera first appeared in fossil record
Triassic
245
Odonata,
Titanoptera
, Grylloblattodea,
Tricoptera, Lepidoptera, and Hymenoptera
first appeared in the fossil record
Paleozoic
Permian
285
Permothemistida
, Plecoptera, Embioptera,
Protelytroptera
,
Glosselytrodea
, Psocoptera,
Thysanoptera, Hemiptera,
Antliophora
,
Mecoptera, Diptera,
Amphiesmenoptera
,
Neuroptera, Megaloptera, and Coleoptera
first appeared in the fossil record
Carboniferous
360
Pterygotes radiated into stem groups of all
major lineages, with seven surviving to
modern times (ephemeroids, odonatoids,
plecopteroids, orthopteroids, blattoids,
hemipteroids, and endopterygotes).
Diplura,
Monura
, Thysanura,
Diaphanopterodea
,
Megasecoptera
,
Permothemistida
,
Protodonata
,
Paraplecoptera
,
Orthoptera, Blattodea,
Caloneurodea
,
Blattinopsodea
, and
Miomoptera
were present
Devonian
400
Collembola (
Rhyniella praecursor
) and
Archaeognatha
, and Opiliones
Silurian
440
Mites, opilionids, scorpions,
pseudoscorpions, centipedes,
Ordovician
500
pycnogonids, and spiders found in pre-
Devonian strata
Cambrian
600
Lobopodians (Panarthropoda?) Split into
Chelicerata and Mandibulata (635-542 mya)
(Modified from
Kukalova-Peck 1991, Giribet and Edgecombe 2012
.)
a
Dates given in this table and in the text may vary because different date estimates are used by different authors.
Hymenoptera (
>
120,000 species), and Diptera (
>
150,000 species) contain
the most species. Insects are diverse, numerous, and ancient (
Daly et al. 1998,
Whitfield and Purcell 2013
).
Mora et al. (2011)
recently suggested there are at
