Rethinking evolution: Butterflies came first, flowers came second

[Palinurus]

Source: http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2018/01/worlds-oldest-moths-also-roamed-jurassic-park-say-utrecht-researchers/

World’s oldest moths also roamed Jurassic Park, say Utrecht researchers

January 11, 2018

Examples of the oldest wing and body scales of primitive moths from the Schandelah-1 core
photographed with transmitted light (magnification 630x). The scales are part of palynological
preparations and occur together with fossil pollen grains and other organic plant remains.
Size of the images (h) approx. 85 micrometer (w) approx. 65 micrometer.
Credit: Bas van de Schootbrugge, Utrecht University

An international team of scientists led by researchers from Utrecht University have found the oldest fossil remains of moths and butterflies known to date.

The fossil remains are more than 70 million years older than the oldest fossils of flowering plants and shed new light on the co-evolution between flowering plants and pollinating insects, researchers Timo van Eldijk and Bas van de Schootbrugge claim.

The fossil remains – wing and body scales – were isolated from a core of sediment drilled in northern Germany which straddles the mass-extinction event.

The researchers say the butterflies and moths seemed to have avoided the impact of the mass extinction event at the end of the Triassic era.

‘As the super continent Pangea started to break apart, biodiversity on land and in the oceans suffered a setback with many key species becoming extinct,’ says Masters student Van Eldijk.

‘However, one major group of insects, the Lepidoptera moths and butterflies, appeared unaffected. Instead, this group diversified during a period of ecological turnover.’

Palaeontologist Bas van de Schootbrugge says the fossil remains contain distinctive hollow scales, and provide clear evidence that there was a group of moths sucking mouth-parts, as have the vast majority of living moths and butterflies.

Modern day butterflies are well known for their association with flowering plants and the butterfly ‘tongue’ has long been assumed to be an important adaptation for feeding on flowering plants.

‘This evidence has transformed our understanding of the evolutionary history of moths and butterflies as well as their resilience to extinction,’ says Van Eldijk.

‘By studying how insects and their evolution was affected by dramatic greenhouse warming at the start of the Jurassic era, we hope to provide insight into how insects might respond to the human-induced climate change challenges we face today.’

Other sources:

Utrecht University press release: https://www.uu.nl/en/news/worlds-oldest-moths-also-roamed-jurassic-park
Science Advances full article: http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/1/e1701568.full

Abstract

On the basis of an assemblage of fossilized wing scales recovered from latest Triassic and earliest Jurassic sediments from northern Germany, we provide the earliest evidence for Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies). The diverse scales confirm a (Late) Triassic radiation of lepidopteran lineages, including the divergence of the Glossata, the clade that comprises the vast multitude of extant moths and butterflies that have a sucking proboscis. The microfossils extend the minimum calibrated age of glossatan moths by ca. 70 million years, refuting ancestral association of the group with flowering plants. Development of the proboscis may be regarded as an adaptive innovation to sucking free liquids for maintaining the insect’s water balance under arid conditions. Pollination drops secreted by a variety of Mesozoic gymnosperms may have been non-mutualistically exploited as a high-energy liquid source. The early evolution of the Lepidoptera was probably not severely interrupted by the end-Triassic biotic crisis.

Science Daily: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180110141326.htm
BBC News: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-42636275
Deutsche Welle: http://www.dw.com/en/rethinking-evolution-butterflies-came-first-flowers-came-second/a-42110188

 

[Palinurus]

The BBC version of this story has made it to SOTT now:

https://www.sott.net/article/374767-Fossilized-scales-found-from-200m-year-old-butterflies