Insects take flight
Insects become the first animals to fly. Winged forms appear around 325 million years ago and diversify quickly, long before pterosaurs, birds or bats.
The story
Insects became the first animals to fly, with winged forms appearing in the fossil record in the Carboniferous around 325 million years ago, such as Delitzschala from Germany. Flight evolved only once in the insect line. After it appeared, winged insects diversified quickly into ancestors of dragonflies, mayflies and many other orders. Later, flying vertebrates arrived: pterosaurs about 215 million years ago, then birds and bats. Insects had the sky to themselves for more than 100 million years.
How wings first arose is debated. One idea is that they grew from flaps on the sides of the thorax that first helped gliding or steering; another is that they are modified gills of aquatic ancestors; a combined view is also supported by gene studies. Whatever their origin, wings gave insects a way to escape predators, find mates and food, and spread to new habitats. The Carboniferous forests were rich with oxygen and with plants, which may have helped some insects grow huge. Griffinflies, relatives of dragonflies, reached wingspans of about 65 centimeters.
Why it mattered
- Flowering plants later evolved with flying insect pollinators, giving rise to modern flowers.
- Flying insects became a key food source that shaped the evolution of pterosaurs, birds and bats.
- Wings allowed insects to colonize nearly every land habitat, making them the most diverse animals on Earth.
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