Insects were the first creatures to fly: study

Uncover California ^ | November 09, 2014 | Andrea Cordell

[Bettyprob]

An evolutionary insect family tree created by a team of 100 researchers revealed that insects were the first creatures to fly around 400 million years ago.

The comprehensive insect family tree covering insects from all around the globe was created as part of a project called 1K Insect Transcriptome Evolution (1KITE).

According to researchers involved in the 1KITE project, insects came into existence around 500 million years ago, around the same time when plants started to emerge on Earth's surface. And, it was roughly 406 million years ago, in the early part of Devonian era, when insects got wings and started flying.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Orville and Wilbur Fly. I learnt about them in publik skrool! :)

[kjam22]

You would have thought by now they would have evolved and we wouldn’t have any more insects. Or maybe some of them just hang around to give the birds and frogs something to eat?

[ravenwolf]

Insects and birds evolved wings but man just had to learn to fly the best way he could, is there something out of whack here with this evolution stuff or am I missing something?

[ClearCase_guy]

Full disclosure -- I don't accept evolution. I consider it far-fetched. However, that is not the point of the comment I'm about to make.

This is a pointless article which reeks of desperation for publication. If we totally agree with mainstream evolutionary theory, we can ask ourselves: "What was the first creature to fly?"
Was it a bat? No, mammals evolved rather late, didn't they?
Was it a bird? No, birds evolved from dinosaurs, didn't they?
Was it a pterodactyl? Well, they are 150 million years old, but ...
Was it an insect? Well, we have long known of the giant dragonflies of 300 million years ago, so ...

Great headline: "Insects were First creatures To Fly"
That's real ground-breaking stuff.

[gettinolder]

Sure about that?

[onedoug]

Insofar as fossil data reveals. Always subject to modification as new information becomes available.

[FreeAtlanta]

And then all the other animals just sat around looking at them until they sprouted wings.

[Don W]

Uhm, this was commonly accepted information 40 years ago when I was in grade school, and well before that I would think. How and why is this suddenly a “news” story?

[FBD]

You might find this page (Thunderbolt Projects) interesting, I sure did.

Symbols of an Alien Sky
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=t7EAlTcZFwY

https://www.thunderbolts.info/wp/

https://www.thunderbolts.info/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/flame_lg.jpg

[SunkenCiv]

This is the current buzz.

[BroJoeK]

kjam22: "You would have thought by now they would have evolved and we wouldn’t have any more insects.
Or maybe some of them just hang around to give the birds and frogs something to eat?"

Of course they did evolve, into well over a million known species today, some of which fly, some don't.
But the basic insect body-plan -- exoskeleton, six legs, small brain, no lungs, heart, veins or arteries, etc. -- can only stretch so far.
Here is one of the largest bugs to ever fly -- two foot wingspan, lived 300 million years ago, when atmosphere's oxygen was higher than today:

[BroJoeK]

ravenwold: "Insects and birds evolved wings but man just had to learn to fly the best way he could, is there something out of whack here with this evolution stuff or am I missing something?"

All basic body types -- insects, mammals, birds, reptiles, fish & even frogs -- have developed species which could at least soar through the air.
But a Brontosaur was never going to learn to fly, no matter how long it lived, nor, ahem, will pigs.
Flying requires, first of all, light weight with appendages which can catch the wind.
Once a critter can get airborne, then any small mutation which improves its flying ability -- and chances for survival! -- will get passed on to future generations.
That's evolution.

[BroJoeK]

ClearCase_guy: "Great headline: "Insects were First creatures To Fly".
That's real ground-breaking stuff. "

Actually, the real story here is the huge DNA analysis project which examined many different insect species around the world, decoding the differences amongst them, and "time-stamping" each important change in order to back-date the first appearance of insect wings.
The result was discovery that the first insect wings predated the first winged-insect fossils by about 100 million years.

But those sentences are a bit long for a headline, so they shortened it.

[BroJoeK]

Don W: "How and why is this suddenly a “news” story?"

Please note my response in post #14 above.

[pabianice]

Duh!

[ravenwolf]

I will go along with that but what i meant was the fact that God gave no other creature except man the ability to invent a way to fly.

Actually i have some problem as the stupid phrase goes of chewing gum and walking at the same time with out trying to figure out the whys and means of existence.

The Bible is enough for me even though i do not see creation as some do, that is that God created every thing in six of our literal days, and i do not believe the Bible tells us that.

People who do no thinking for them selves either believe or do not believe what some one else tells them the scriptures mean.

Meaning that if i took some one elses word that the bible said that God created the world and every thing in it in six of our literal days i most likely would not believe it and so would not believe in the Bible.

In fact i experienced that very thing but i went to the Bible and soon saw that it does not say six literal days at all.

I have no argument against evolution being a part of the creation but evolution in itself just leaves a black hole for me.

[BroJoeK]

ravenwolf: "I have no argument against evolution being a part of the creation but evolution in itself just leaves a black hole for me."

Agreed, but with your indulgence, I'll rehearse some important points here: first, we don't believe in God because of evolution or despite evolution -- evolution has no bearing one way or another on our belief (or non-belief) in God.

For an analogy, consider the scientific theory of gravity, Earth revolving around the Sun.
People believed in God (or didn't) before they discovered gravity, and afterwards too -- it had no serious effect on Faith.
Evolution theory should be the same -- it's interesting to learn, and certainly shows us that God's plan for the Universe included us from the very beginning.
That seems to me pretty good news.

Second, if you think about what the Bible says, first of all it clearly tells us that a God-day is not the same as a man-day, is much longer and indeed, can be as long as God wishes it to be.
Third of all, and even more important, it tells us that God didn't just magically "abracadabra" the Universe as we see it today into existence, but rather that He worked hard on it for six long days.
And, He worked on it one step at a time, such that, for example, life could not be created until the pre-conditions were established.

Finally, the Bible clearly says that we came from the "dust of the ground"!
So, tell me, in what way does that conflict with evolution?

[kjam22]

"Finally, the Bible clearly says that we came from the "dust of the ground"! So, tell me, in what way does that conflict with evolution?"

It doesn't really say we "came" from the dust of the ground. It says God made man from the dust of the ground. I think there is a difference there.

[ravenwolf]

Finally, the Bible clearly says that we came from the “dust of the ground”!
So, tell me, in what way does that conflict with evolution?

---

I don`t know that it does, but most of the arguments I have always heard is not based on believers trying to prove there is no evolution but rather evolutionists trying to prove there is no God.