Arthropod gap

The arthropod gap, also sometimes known as the hexapoda gap, is an apparent gap in the fossil record of terrestrial arthropods (particularly insects) noted in the study of evolutionary biology. The fossil gap, which corresponds to the early Carboniferous, coincides and extends past the Romer's gap for tetrapod vertebrates, who were newly arrived colonizers of land habitats.

The discovery of the Devonian insect species Strudiella devonica in 2012, and dated to 370 million years ago, reduces a previous gap of 45 million years in the evolutionary history of insects, from 385 million to 325 million years ago. However, its affinity as an insect is questioned later.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Humble bug plugs gap in fossil record". AFP. 2 August 2012.
  2. 1 2 W. A. Shear (August 2012). "Palaeontology: An insect to fill the gap". Nature. 488 (7409): 34-35. doi:10.1038/488034a.
  3. ↑ Clack, Jennifer A.; Bennett, Carys E.; Carpenter, David K.; Davies, Sarah J.; Fraser, Nicholas C.; Kearsey, Timothy I.; Marshall, John E. A.; Millward, David; Otoo, Benjamin K. A.; Reeves, Emma J.; Ross, Andrew J.; Ruta, Marcello; Smithson, Keturah Z.; Smithson, Timothy R.; Walsh, Stig A. (2016). "Phylogenetic and environmental context of a Tournaisian tetrapod fauna" (PDF). Nature Ecology & Evolution. 1 (1): 0002. Bibcode:2016NatEE...1....2C. doi:10.1038/s41559-016-0002. PMID 28812555. S2CID 22421017.
  4. ↑ Tarlach, Gemma (December 5, 2016). "Tetrapod Triumph! Solving Mystery Of First Land Vertebrates". dead things. Discover. Archived from the original on August 3, 2019. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
  5. ↑ Hörnschemeyer, Thomas; Haug, Joachim T.; Bethoux, Olivier; Beutel, Rolf G.; Charbonnier, Sylvain; Hegna, Thomas A.; Koch, Markus; Rust, Jes; Wedmann, Sonja; Bradler, Sven; Willmann, Rainer (2013). "Is Strudiella a Devonian insect?". Nature. 494 (7437): E3–E4. Bibcode:2013Natur.494E...3H. doi:10.1038/nature11887. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 23426326. S2CID 205232661.