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13

Jun. '12

rhamphotheca: Were Giant Insects Eaten Out of Existence By First Birds? by Ker Than Sure, they provide the soundtrack of spring and are often lovely to look at. But a new study may offer the best reason yet to appreciate birds: the general absence of gigantic insects from our daily lives. Today insects are among the smallest creatures on Earth, but about 300 million years ago, huge bugs were fairly common. The dragonfly-like griffinfly, for example, had a wingspan of about 28 inches (70 centimeters)—”a little bit smaller than a crow’s,” study co-author Matthew Clapham said. Today’s widest-winged insects are butterfly and moth species that span about a foot (30 centimeters). The prehistoric bugs’ incredible growth was fueled by an atmosphere that was more than 30 percent oxygen, compared with 21 percent today, experts say. The extra oxygen gave bugs more energy per breath, allowing them to power bigger bodies. In the new study, Clapham and a colleague created a wingspan database for more than 10,500 insect fossils spanning the past 320 million years. “When oxygen went up, insects got bigger. And when oxygen went down, they got smaller,” said Clapham, a paleobiologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz… (read more: National Geo)     (image: Meganeura with a 30-in (76-cm) wingspan, circa 300 million years ago, by Walter Myers, Stocktrek Images/Alamy)

rhamphotheca:

Were Giant Insects Eaten Out of Existence By First Birds?

by Ker Than

Sure, they provide the soundtrack of spring and are often lovely to look at. But a new study may offer the best reason yet to appreciate birds: the general absence of gigantic insects from our daily lives.

Today insects are among the smallest creatures on Earth, but about 300 million years ago, huge bugs were fairly common. The dragonfly-like griffinfly, for example, had a wingspan of about 28 inches (70 centimeters)—”a little bit smaller than a crow’s,” study co-author Matthew Clapham said. Today’s widest-winged insects are butterfly and moth species that span about a foot (30 centimeters).

The prehistoric bugs’ incredible growth was fueled by an atmosphere that was more than 30 percent oxygen, compared with 21 percent today, experts say. The extra oxygen gave bugs more energy per breath, allowing them to power bigger bodies.

In the new study, Clapham and a colleague created a wingspan database for more than 10,500 insect fossils spanning the past 320 million years.

“When oxygen went up, insects got bigger. And when oxygen went down, they got smaller,” said Clapham, a paleobiologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz…

(read more: National Geo)    

(image: Meganeura with a 30-in (76-cm) wingspan, circa 300 million years ago, by Walter Myers, Stocktrek Images/Alamy)

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