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Is Strudiella a Devonian insect?

Nature volume 494, pages E3–E4 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

Arising from R. Garrouste et al. Nature 488, 82–85 (2012)10.1038/nature11281

The origin of winged insects (Pterygota), one of the planet’s most diverse lineages of organisms, is assumed to lie in the Devonian, but as an extremely sparse fossil record impedes our understanding of their early diversification, any well-preserved insect fossil from this time would be particularly valuable1. Garrouste et al.2 described an arthropod from Upper Devonian freshwater sediments from the Strud locality in Belgium (∼360 million years ago) as an insect, Strudiella devonica. However, based on a thorough re-investigation of the specimen, we conclude that this interpretation is untenable. Hence we believe that, like several other Devonian arthropod remains3,4,5,6,7, Strudiella is not an insect, and utmost diligence should be taken in interpreting poorly preserved Devonian arthropods.

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Figure 1: Strudiella devonica Garrouste et al. 2012.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach-Institute of Zoology and Anthropology, Georg-August-University Göttingen, Göttingen, 37073, Germany

    Thomas Hörnschemeyer, Sven Bradler & Rainer Willmann

  2. Department of Cytology and Evolutionary Biology, Zoological Institute and Museum, University of Greifswald, 17487 Greifswald, Germany

    Joachim T. Haug

  3. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle UMR7207 CNRS (CR2P) CP38, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France

    Olivier Bethoux & Sylvain Charbonnier

  4. Entomology Group, Institut für Spezielle Zoologie und Evolutionsbiologie, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Jena, 07743, Germany

    Rolf G. Beutel

  5. ‖ Geology Department, Western Illinois University, 1 University Circle, 113 Tillman Hall, Macomb, Illinois 61455, USA,

    Thomas A. Hegna

  6. Biocentre Grindel and Zoological Museum, University of Hamburg, 20146 Hamburg, Germany

    Markus Koch

  7. Department of Palaeontology, Steinmann Institute, University of Bonn, 53115 Bonn, Germany

    Jes Rust

  8. Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum, Forschungsstation Grube Messel, Messel, 64409, Germany

    Sonja Wedmann

Authors
  1. Thomas Hörnschemeyer
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  2. Joachim T. Haug
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  3. Olivier Bethoux
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  4. Rolf G. Beutel
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  5. Sylvain Charbonnier
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  6. Thomas A. Hegna
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  7. Markus Koch
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  8. Jes Rust
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  9. Sonja Wedmann
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  10. Sven Bradler
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  11. Rainer Willmann
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Contributions

T.H., J.T.H., O.B., S.B. and R.W. examined the fossil, T.H., J.T.H., O.B., T.A.H., S.W., S.B. and R.W. drafted the manuscript, T.H., O.B., R.G.B., S.C., T.A.H., M.K., J.R., S.B. and R.W. edited the final article.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rainer Willmann.

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Declared none.

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Hörnschemeyer, T., Haug, J., Bethoux, O. et al. Is Strudiella a Devonian insect?. Nature 494, E3–E4 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11887

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