The first insects
A pair of jaws in Scottish chert may belong to the oldest insect — or to something else entirely.
- When
- Known to
- ± 10 million years
- Era
- Devonian, Paleozoic
Rhyniognatha hirsti, known from a partial head in the 407-million-year-old Rhynie chert, was long described as the oldest insect and possibly the oldest flying one. A 2017 reanalysis argued the specimen is more likely a myriapod. Either way, molecular and fossil evidence place the origin of insects in the Early Devonian, alongside the first true land ecosystems. They become the most species-rich group of animals ever to exist.