The Evolution of Insect Flight
The evolution of powered flight is one of the rarest adaptations made in nature only being possessed by four groups of animals, the birds, bats, pterosaurs and earliest of all the insects. Because the insects evolved so early and because they are the only animals to evolve powered flight that aren't vertebrates the path they took to get airborne is very different. This video seeks to explain what is known about the evolution of the insect wing and how they made the transition.
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Sources:
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29169...
academic.oup.com/jhered/artic...
www.sciencedirect.com/science...
cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/90246....
royalsocietypublishing.org/do...
www.sciencedirect.com/science...
Пікірлер: 501
6:06 "The insects closest relatives are not the arthropods" Insects _are_ arthropods, I'm pretty sure you meant to say "The insects closest relatives are not the _arachnids."_ or something like that.
@benisoreilly869
Жыл бұрын
I think you're right since he was showing a spider
@alvaronavarro4895
Жыл бұрын
@@benisoreilly869 most likely
@CarmenLC
Жыл бұрын
agreed
@astick5249
Жыл бұрын
yea i was a bit confused by that
@jackdillon7565
Жыл бұрын
yeah that confused me too
I had no idea that insects are much more closely related to lobsters, crabs and shrimps than to spiders and scorpions. That is very fascinating. Certainly makes me look at them in a new way.
@koriw1701
Жыл бұрын
I didn't either, but it makes sense when one considers that the crab body has evolved independently at least five times, so it's not a big stretch of the imagination to speculate that these bodies could have used that framework to evolve further into these highly adapted "leg-wings" given the immense time frame involved.
@Frommerman
Жыл бұрын
That's why it's kinda weird that so many cultures hold crustaceans as a delicacy and insects as disgusting pests. They're basically the same, the only major difference is the relatively few kinds of insects which carry human illnesses.
@kotarojujo2737
Жыл бұрын
its obvious, shrimp basically are just sea cockroach
@thetobyntr9540
Жыл бұрын
@@kotarojujo2737 I've always known lobster was just sea bugs
@jamesgabor9284
Жыл бұрын
Fun fact: People with a shellfish allergy often are also allergic to insects But anyways Insects aren’t just closely related to crustaceans, they are themselves crustaceans (at least, in the same way that you could consider us lobe finned fish). Insects belong to the clade Pancrustacea, a group that [wikipedia] ‘comprises all crustaceans, including insects’
You should make a video on how organisms evolved to undergo a metamorphosis from a juvenile form to an adult form.
@astick5249
Жыл бұрын
I like this idea
@suelane3628
Жыл бұрын
There has been a lot of very interesting research into metamorphosis. Including producing hybrids from distantly related marine organisms with complete metamorphosis. It seems that the subject is largely ignored when portraying Evolution. (Ref: the book Metamorphosis by Frank Ryan and research from Sheffield University.)
@oldcowbb
Жыл бұрын
metamorphosis always boggles me
@jeremymullens7167
Жыл бұрын
Metamorphosis is just a shortcut in the molting process. Early insects would molt their juvenile forms and change shape subtly each time but have striking differences at both ends. Metamorphosis just fused the middle parts to one cocoon form that essentially became a second egg. Humans go through metamorphosis from aquatic to land based while in an egg. Most animals use the egg to develop. Part of the puzzle is silk but it probably has something to do with eggs and nests.
@suelane3628
Жыл бұрын
@@jeremymullens7167 There is the possibility that insects which undergo metamorphosis do have 2 genomes. (Ref a New Scientist Article). But yes, it is the same genes which are involved in triggering or suppressing moulting (Ecdysis) in Arthropods, nematodes etc including incomplete metamorphosis in insects.. Also the same genes involved in embryonic development in Chordates.
One of my favorite episodes so far. Arthropods, especially Insects deserve more attention regarding their evolution as well. Most paleo stuff on YT only focuses on (large) vertebrates only.
@mateussoares4741
Жыл бұрын
Vertebrate supremacy! Jokes apart, humans are chauvinistic creatures by nature. We're way more likely to favor and be interested in those who share traits with us - be it as a person, a group, a culture or a species. Too many differences create alien hard to climb walls. It estranges us from the subject, even as it fascinates the observer.
@georgesazon9726
Жыл бұрын
They are so facinating and mysterious since they're hard to fossilized.
@jhin28
8 ай бұрын
plant evolution is also interesting
@pocketmarcy6990
21 күн бұрын
I think it’s because a lot of people have a natural aversion to bugs
Dragon flies are friggin perfect. Imagine being able to fly easily in any direction. Up down left right. and having such good vision you can precisely catch flies in midair easily
@isaacbruner65
Жыл бұрын
Has one of the highest success rates of any predator to ever live.
@RedSquirrelHunter
Жыл бұрын
Jumping spiders have better vision, but the dragon fly has insane reaction time
@ZentaBon
Жыл бұрын
@@RedSquirrelHunter jumping spiders are so cool! In summer when I'm in my backyard I can often find them and they're so tiny and SO awesome. What a very cool way to live.
@FloozieOne
Жыл бұрын
You forgot that dragonflies can actually fly backwards quite easily. You can see them fly by something that catches their eye, hover and then back up to study it more closely. They don't do this a lot and not for anything but short distances but they can do it which is crazy. Hummingbirds can do this too and I am sure there are others I don't know about but I'm sure it is a very rare trait.
@Kurominos1
Жыл бұрын
@@ZentaBon the diffrence is jumpers still have to "move" theyr eyes /body to see around them Dragonflys can literally look 360 ° without turning theyr head XD
"An aquatic larval stage is ancestral to all flying insects" is an important clue. Aquatic insects fly because this allows them to escape drying streams and ponds and lay their eggs in new ones, colonizing new areas.
@widodoakrom3938
Жыл бұрын
True
@MoonwalkerWorshiper
10 ай бұрын
Well that's very possible that the insects NEED to escape dryings streams and ponds, it doesn't mean they can order a pair of wings to do so on Amazon even if they lived in the amazonian jungle.
@user-xi5ej4ox5s
2 ай бұрын
There are primarily flightless insects who are fully terrestrial on all stages.
Can we just take a moment to appreciate the excellent music choices Moth makes? From Dreamer to Ascension to the theme he uses in his recent videos, it feels like he takes us on a journey into the past every time.
@CodingDragon04
Жыл бұрын
I do think the volume of the music is a bit too low compared to the past. Nonetheless still great music choices!
@kago500
Жыл бұрын
I prefer the music he used in his early videos
@evilershark_2043
Жыл бұрын
I agree the music along with his voice makes it a very relaxing journey I wonder what the music used in this video is
@thelaughinghyenas8465
Жыл бұрын
Yes, most excellent video production. Very pleasant and informative. Some channels are interesting but grate on your nerves. Few manage to strike such a great balance. Journey through the Microcosmos and GK Natural History are the only two similar natural history channels that come to mindthat come to mind.
@MaltheKorsgaard
Жыл бұрын
Nah the old videos with Dreamer was much better
Let's take a moment to appreciate that Mothlight is the best channel of its kind on KZread.
@cube2fox
6 ай бұрын
What about PBS Eons though?
Finally, someone has covered this overlooked topic, thank you! Keep up the incredible content!
@farhanatashiga3721
Жыл бұрын
PBS Eon has a video up on this for like 2 years Just an fyi
The tree of life is endlessly fascinating. I've always been struck by the sheer diversity among insects, making it hard to figure out what are the more basal characteristics, giving the impression that we are seeing creatures from completely unrelated groups.
@LimeyLassen
2 ай бұрын
I think part of that is their low extinction rate. Vertebrates always get hit hard by extinction events but insects just seem to stick around and get more and more specialized.
i just finished making food when this dropped. i could not be happier
@Yan-jv6xe
Жыл бұрын
I'm making pesto and I couldn't be more thrilled learning about sky buggies
@funfirstforever
Жыл бұрын
That’s a vibe
No matter how much I learn about biology and science, it never ceases to amaze me that Nature has this unbelievable ability to adapt to it's surroundings.. Like, That's utterly amazing.
@doburu4835
Жыл бұрын
Jesus is amazing !
@TheVideoIsLongEnough
11 ай бұрын
@@doburu4835Jesus couldn't have even known about biological evolution because he was born and died thousands of years before modern science.
@doburu4835
11 ай бұрын
@@TheVideoIsLongEnoughhe is the creator of course he would know.
@TheVideoIsLongEnough
11 ай бұрын
@@doburu4835 I forget people still believe in bronze age mythology. Jesus was a man. God is a myth. Grow up
I went into a rabbit hole trying to understand the evolution of complete metamorphosis and went through this subject in the process. Please make a video on the evolution of metamorphosis in insects, I still have many doubts and I guess there’s stuff we’ll never know, like if the nymphs adapted first and independently of their adult forms, and their adult forms secondarily adapted like two different animals over time?
@spicyseliph
Жыл бұрын
Every person undergoes metamorphosis, just at different speeds. Let that sink in.
@nansubahahahbajqixbbshausb8574
Жыл бұрын
I read the wikipedia page on insect evolution recently and it did talk about metamorphosis, I’ll summarize what it said and what I believe, although all this should be taken with a grain of salt. The silverfish and bristletails do not undergo any metamorphosis but eventually a group would sprout from their ancestors and that group would gain some things as it aged, the biggest being wings (this group being the hemimetabola, incomplete metamorphosis). This made the adult form of the organism the most ideal when compared to the juvenile form as the adult form would have flight and another abilities. This would then begin the selective pressure for organisms that aged faster. It then becomes advantageous for that final molt when the insect gains flight to also include other changes, and for some of the earlier molt to be removed. Eventually very few molt would happen and that final molt would be much longer than normal, this would make that molt extremely vulnerable and would then lead to selective pressure for a harder exoskeleton while this final molt occurs. Eventually the only purpose for early molts would be to get larger meaning that the many body changes would be shoved into the final molt. That final molt being so long and dramatic would then make it be considered an entire new stage of life, the pupal stage. Technically by this point the holometabola (complete metamorphosis) would be created but I will add one last thing. A new selective pressure would be made, the competition for resources between adults and juveniles could now be destroyed. The adults would now evolve to fit one niche while the juveniles would evolve to fit a different niche, and as the two ages adapt more and more to fit different niches it would lead to the huge change in body structure that we see with butterflies, beetles, neuropterans, etc.
Excellent video. I like that you covered an issue that is still unsettled, and presented multiple opposing theories. All too often, content creators have made up their mind on what explanation should be correct.
Not sure how much info there is on slime mold evolution since they wouldn't really fossilize but that would be a cool topic to go in depth on. Crazy protists.
I love insects, I think about them every day. it's hard for me to recall ones not mentioned in this video that can't fly! even earwigs have wings, they're SO cool. I never deeply considered how much insects rely on flight, oddly enough seems obvious to me now
@stephenlitten1789
Жыл бұрын
Weta can't fly
@kai_fatallysapphic
Жыл бұрын
@@stephenlitten1789 I googled "weta bug" and found a picture of one eating a carrot!!!!
@stephenlitten1789
Жыл бұрын
@@kai_fatallysapphic The common ones are about 4"/100mm long fully grown
@kai_fatallysapphic
Жыл бұрын
@@stephenlitten1789 they're a little scary, I've always had an irrational fear of locust-like and cricket-like insects, but also so adorable how it was just eating a carrot 🥺
@DJFracus
Жыл бұрын
he mentions ants as flightless but many ant species have morphs that are capable of flight, usually for the purpose of starting new colonies in different locations
This has to be the best channel for relaxed education out there. The voice, music, visuals, and topics all blend so beautifully that it's almost unreal.
Funny to think about that insects have likely driven the evolution of flight in other animals. They just all want to be like insects
I heard that flight evolved 5 times, another type of dinosaur apart from birds and pterosaurs also evolved flight using both membrane and feathers.
@Coffee-hj5di
Жыл бұрын
That's Yi Qi right? I may be wrong but I believe it is still debated whether they ever reached the point of true flight or if they were still only gliders because we still haven't figured out how strong and thick their wings are
@xenophilos8360
Жыл бұрын
have you looked at that thing haha? doesnt seem like it could fly at all. But it is true that within the group avialae active flight probably evolved multiple times, check out the paper by pei et al. 2020
@RedSquirrelHunter
Жыл бұрын
Bats, birds, pterosaurs, insects, flying fish more of a glider
@bliss6417
Жыл бұрын
@@RedSquirrelHunter Well, its debatable if that could be called a "flight" since at least as of now they aren't fully aerial, but I never thought of gliding fish. It would be cool to know the origins of them.
@mikeg2306
Ай бұрын
@@RedSquirrelHunterGliding doesn’t count. There are many types of gliding mammals today but only bats are true flyers. Gliding is probably a prerequisite to flying though.
I feel like this is a topic that no one talks about but everyone thinks about.
Honey wake up, a new Moth Light Media video just dropped
Kind of wild that the mayfly is basically the insect version of an amphibian!
@widodoakrom3938
Жыл бұрын
And they're herbivore while dragonfly is carnivore version
:) How fascinating! I always thought that insects invented flight multiple times, not all descended from the flying ancestor. Super cool video, thank you!
Video essays are some of the coolest and most interesting things I have ever seen
Uploaded the video at the exact same time Trey the explainor uploaded one, this is going to be a fun half hour.
Top notch video as per usual! Thank you!
This channel never ceases to amaze. Thank you.
Thank you keep making content I love your channel and your voice !! 👏🏾
I was actually surprised to hear that it's thought that herbivorous insects developed wings first, as I would have thought that carnivorous insects, in order to gain an upper "hand" in the arms race, would have developed first in order to diversify prey selection. Especially considering the nymph stages of many flying insects (today) are carnivorous. Herbivores adapting to reach new plants however, does make sense. Mind, it didn't seem to take too long for the carnivores to catch up and considering the Gryphon Flies ruled the roost for so long, did an admirable job at that! I think the Dragonflies are without a doubt, the coolest insects ever developed, regardless of the benefits of the Eusocial groups (ants + bees). Thanks again Moth! :)
Love your content so much. The voice, the manner of the delivery, the music, everything.
I love this channel!!
I love these videos, they make me love and appreciate nature in entirely new ways.
Super interesting video, thank you for all the hard work
World class content as always. Perhaps another good video idea is the evolution of terrestiality in plants and insects.
Excellent video as always.
Love learning from this channel. Far more in depth information than youd typically find in television documentary which tend to skim over just the very basic information.
Love these videos dude, I'm always looking forward to when a new one drops keep it up!
Thank you! could you make a video on how insects evolved complete metamorphosis/larval stages? how did a group of crustaceans unlock the ability to have their babies shaped like worms?
Thx, great content as always 💪🏼
I’m meant to be learning for my GCSEs but this is better
The beauty and wonder of our world never ceases to amaze.
I love your content, I'll join your Patreon as soon as I'm not broke!
This was fascinating! I really appreciate the way your presentations have a natural progression that always seems to cover the most important aspects of each topic into a logical conclusion. Thank you. (And to @ExoRepublic, I agree with you that the background music is always excellent!)
Fantastic! A topic I hadn't given much thought to; but considering it further, it really is a headscratcher
I believe this is the best channel on KZread. I love your content, delivery, and research. Putting things in perspective with the oldest common ancestors and the charts you use gives me so many “ah-ha!” Moments. Awesome stuff.
Still. Patiently waiting for the next vid 🥹
Another thing that makes understanding the development of insect flight difficult is that no insect gliders survive today, and there isn’t fossil evidence for any. Because almost all insects evolved from flying ancestors, any that end up back in the air would probably just reactivate their wing genes, so it’s not like with other lineages where there are plenty of gliding fossils and living gliding creatures. Bats and pterosaurs also don’t have a well fossilized transition animal but it’s pretty easy to see how their flight might have evolved by looking at other flying tetrapods such as flying squirrels, which use a similar arrangement where one membrane connects all their limbs. Even many vertebrate lineages that have never resulted in powered flight have some gliding representatives, like snakes, lizards, frogs and fish. The only two gliding invertebrates that I know of are flying squid (in which the wings are modified fins on their mantle) and spiders that use special gossamer silk to catch the wind and balloon up into the sky. Neither of which is really helpful. Insects don’t have a mantle and the wings aren’t silk, not to mention squids aren’t even in the same phylum. If insects really did evolve their wings as a novel structure, then the glider that is closest to that is some of the lizards, which have skin flaps that extend from their sides (really hope some day they evolve powered flight because they would basically be dragons).
MOTH LIGHT MEDIA I LOVE YOU
Luv your vids, binging em all!
Please do how insects transitioned to land. I know literally nothing about this
Paleontology is so cool. Its crazy to know that Flying Insects are just hyper-adapted crustaceans, and birds are mutated reptiles.
It's true that being able to fly puts an animal in a very exclusive club; luckily, the Wright brothers got humanity an honorary membership.
Amazing topic and even better video about it, as usual! I am really happy to see, that you reach more and more people, interested in learning about the amazing history of species evolvement. For my part, I am really curious about ancient ecosystems, e.g. how did some of the species lineages in your videos behaved systematically at a certain time and environment. Maybe this is also interesting for you and some more people in your audience. Of course you already give insights in exactly this topic, but maybe you could also make special videos about fascinating ecosystems, if there is already enough knowledge about them and they are useful to give further insights into the further evolving of its species and the system as a whole. Keep it up!
Best KZread Chanel out there! Saludos from Chile, South América
I was under the impression that insect wings are derived from gill structures in larval forms.
This channel is a gold mine
Fascinating as always - thanks.
What were those blue, dragonfly-like insects at the end of the video? They look fascinating!
@wutevs
Жыл бұрын
Jewel wing damselflies. Cousin to dragonfly; completely gorgeous, slightly different morphology and habits. Love seeing them!
I've been needing this I love you
FINALLY I can't believe I missed this yesterday. Been waiting for a video on this for ages. Thanks! On the surface, there seems to be no real way for there to be an incentive for insects to develop flight. As far as I know, flying vertebrates all evolved from gliding animals that used trees as a jumping off point. I'm going off on the assumption that flying or gliding insects began to evolve before the first trees since they were already well adapted to fly by the time trees become prominent in the Carboniferous. Personally I think it's a combination of things. The wings look similar to gills because it may be the same genes used in their construction just expressed in a different location with some adaption. The lobes being modified with already present genes just seems to be the most likely case. The advantage this would give to early insects is quite large. There were no large forests or large plants in general and the soil layer was likely quite shallow as well so there weren't may ways to avoid predators. Without big plants it would have been pretty windy and this could have been used as a fast way to avoid getting eaten and to travel to new sources of food. Insects are small, light, and relatively strong enough to easily survive this because they do so today and we know similar sized animals, like spiders, still use this as a mode of transport just using silk to catch the wind instead. It could also be used to escape a small seasonal pond before it dries up too. So it could be that flying or at least gliding insects are actually much older than currently known. Just that there's no fossils of them unfortunately.
Thank you for the video!
Well done. You make very good videos. 🦋🐝🐞
Awesome video!
I admire your refusal to make any Moth related Puns or Quips
I just learned that crickets have wings but can't fly. I think they are a very good example of how wings evolve. They use the same area where their wings are to make noise. The wings might help release pheromones or their scent into the air. So this is Amazing!! The prof is in a live insect, not a fossil! How come no one has seen this fact!🥳🎉🔥💢💥YAY!😄!
This is mental, brilliant 👌
awesome topic, i had to write an evodevo essay about this once and came to the same conclusion as you ^^
A fascinating topic
You make my favorite paleomedia
Thanks for new video!
nice as always
Another great video! I would love it if you labeled the animals as they're shown so I can go on a deep dive :)
banger video thank you moth man
I heard the latest information is that carnivorous plants evolved only once, but the crown plant had just like sticky leafs
one of the best channels on YT. 100% quality content every time. maybe the early land insects first developed a type of sail which they used for example to harvest pollen. then as it naturally caused these insects to take off by the wind, those who learned to control the sail survived better and that caused the evolution of wing. how about evolution of worms?
@astick5249
Жыл бұрын
Pollen didn't exist at that time, in fact pollen is really weird: its actually not plant sperm but like a sort or separate thing that then releases sperm or something like that i don't quite know the details.
@Eye_Exist
Жыл бұрын
@@astick5249 how do you know pollen didn't exist at the time?
@jamestang1227
Жыл бұрын
Why would an insect want pollen
@Eye_Exist
Жыл бұрын
@@jamestang1227 go ask bumblebees.
@Eye_Exist
Жыл бұрын
@@astick5249 edit: according to wikipedia earliest fossil records of pollen date to devonian period between some 400 million to 350 million years ago, the same period in which insects developed flight.
Always spot on
Thanks biologists and geneticists are detectives on a whole new level
I hope you know that you have the best channel
I always found it interesting that, like you said, the ability of flight has evolved completely independently 4 separate times. However, it’s also interesting that those 4 all have completely different ways of flying. The way an insect flies is completely different than how a bird flies, they use different body parts & evolved in different ways. Same guys for bats & pterosaurs. I wonder what a flying fish or amphibian would look like, & how it would fly? I mean true flight, not like the current flying fish.
Good one👏🏾👏🏾
Never been early for a Moth vid sweet!
I read an article about this a while ago but going at it from the DNA that said it was like a mammal evolving wings from the scapula which is a cool thought.
No offense to PBS eons but it’s been a while since I have been thinking that your videos are better. Clearer and better paced explanations. And that on top of video quality (visuals, editing, sound, narration, etc.) that is on par with professionally made products. 👍👍👍
I've learned more cool stuff from this channel than all my 12 years of school
Your cladogram showing the arthropod subphyla is slightly wrong because, myriapods are actually more closely related to crustaceans than to chelicerates because they have chewing mouthparts instead of fang-like mouth parts.
@RedSquirrelHunter
Жыл бұрын
And he said insect were crustaceans but they had separate branches. Little confusing
@indyreno2933
Жыл бұрын
Actually, arthropods are now officially divided into just two subphyla, Myriochelata and Pancrustacea, myriapods are actually more closely related to chelicerates than to crustaceans, which on the other hand are more closely related to hexapods, myriapods have much more in common with chelicerates, while crustaceans have more in common with hexapods.
I quite like silverfish, they're cute and rather pretty little insects with their silver colour. :)
I always wondered how it was that insects came to have such strange ability to change their form in stages through out their life.... It must be a development through millions of years of having to molt an exo skeleton.
Super Nice
Given the rarity of the evolution of flight, it's fascinating to me that *75% of terrestrial animals can fly or had flying ancestors.*
Thanks for the content. I miss the music played before.
Seems to me there could be a 3rd viable reason for wing development: Breeding/Show Many animals have developed special ways to display for mates. In theory the origin of the wing could be as small protrusions that could move a bit and were probably brightly colored. These would be used to warn off enemies and attract mates. Being as many insects would have traveled to the top of the canopy in the forests the ones that had larger "displays" could have had a better chance to glide or slow their fall. This could have spurred these "displays" to grow in size. Considering how even the earliest evidence of wings show them as colorful it would make sense if they were used for attracting mates.
Yay new content!
Interestingly, we might be in the middle of the fifth appearance of flight, since while flying fish are not true fliers yet, they ARE still capable of gliding for a good distance, and might be able to push it further in the future.
@mikeg2306
Ай бұрын
They wouldn’t have the energy or the need for powered flight. Fish can’t stay out of water for that long.
Will there be a video on polychaetes someday?
Since insects are such a large population, I am quite sure there have been more than one scenario of evolution which took place to evolve their flight.
Considering millipedes and centipedes all gained a boatload of limbs, albeit copy pasted legs, as they evolved, how strange would it be for an early flying ancestor to have evolved a whole new kind of limb that just happened to be an extra flat part of their exoskeleton that eventually was advantageous to gain better muscle control over?
My favorite notification of all notifications.
6:05 insects are athropods, did you want to say arachnids?
@Scrunkly_blorbo
Жыл бұрын
probably
Very well researched video!! Few things: in vertebrates active flight probably evolved multiple times in the group maniraptora, if you are interested check out the paper "potential for powered flight neared by most close avialan relatives, but few crossed its threshold" Pei et al. 2020. The phylogenies you present are mostly fine. Phylogeny is always debatable, but crustacea is probably more than the sistergroup of hexapoda, hexapoda is more likely an ingroup of crustacea, making insects true crustaceans (i just listened again and you said it like i meant, but your tree shows them as sister groups!). As a promising sister group the group Remipedia has been proposed. The same is most probably true for myriapoda, although their exact position within crustacea is not clear, its very unlikely however that they are closer to chelicerates than to crustaceans. The idea of myriapods being the sistergroup to chelicerata stems from molecular analyses that are debatable to say the least; it makes no sense if you consider character evolution alone. At 6:08 you probably said something you didnt mean, Insects are Arthropods, as well as other crustaceans and chelicerates, so to even consider arthropoda as closest relatives makes no sense. Maybe you meant something else? The whole joint part is where i disagree the most. To compare insects and other crustaceans concerning their number of legs you have to work with segmentation. And for a long time it has been pretty clear that the thorax is only made up of 3 segments. This is also the case for silver fish and bristle tails. There has as far as i know been no debate that the insect wings come from other segments than the 3 thorax segments. I think what you meant or probably encountered in your research are the originally biramous legs in a crustacean ancestor and that while the endopodit is used for walking maybe the exopodit was derived as a wing. But the exopodit is no extra limb or appendage. Problem with this is that we find no exopodits in silver fish and bristle tails, which makes this questionable (the styli in bristle tails could indeed be leftover exopodits). The paranotal extensions hypothesis makes more sense in my opinion, also concerning the many different rather broad looking paleozoic insects we have fossils of, making it realistic for being ancestral for pterygota. The wing buds in palaeodictyoptera nymphs are however not really a support for this. Not more than the wing buds in recent species. As you said the wing structure of the earliest known pretygotes is already pretty derived, so the acquisition of flight is probably much older. Paleozoic insects seem to have a much more gradual development of wings, but that doesnt tell us where the wings came from in the first place, its interesting however that they also have broad tergites at the abdominal segments, this could be a support for broad tergites being the ancestral condition and gateway to wings, serving another purpose like protection or thermoregulation before being derived for gliding and later flight. All in all i loved the video, well researched, nice music, cool footage and pictures. 10/10
@xenophilos8360
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i have to add that Palaeoptera could be a non-monophyletic group and that the aquatic nymphs of dragon flies and may flies have gills in different locations, making it questionable that aquatic nymphs are ancestral for their last common ancestor or the pterygota ground pattern. Can't be ruled out of course :)
@Lanval_de_Lai
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Very interesting! It would be easier to read separated in paragraphs at least for me but very interesting!!
Can you do the evolution of GRASS?