Rhyniella praecursor / Rhyniognatha hirsti
In 1926 Hirst and Maulik first named an arthropod Rhyniella praecursor
that was found in the Rhynie chart beds, dated 410mya. Tillyard, in 1928
described Rhyniella praecursor mouth parts, suggesting Rhniella praecursor
was insect-like and renamed the fossil remains Rhyniognatha hirsti, but
did not place it in a group. For the next 76 years researchers considered
the fossil too fragmented to determine that it was an insect or it to be a
later contaminant. With the advance of technology Engel and Grimaldi in
2004 using the same specimen described by Hirst and Maulik confirmed that
Rhyniognatha hirsti is the oldest springtail known. Furthermore, Engeland
and Grimaldi placed the Rhyniognatha hirsti in the Metapterygota Group,
implying that Rhyniognatha had wings. This study places the origin of
wings at least 80 million years earlier. Additional specimens and studies
by Greenslade, Jarzembowski, Massoud, Scourfield and Whalley have
established that springtails were present 410mya in Scotland. These
specimens and studies are also supported with other DNA studies estimating
that insects originated before the Devonian period perhaps Early Silurian
(500+mya). I do need to add, because there are huge gaps in the early
fossil records that no fossilized wings have been found in the Devonian
and no transitional forms have been recovered.
Ed Reinertsen