Rhyniella Explained

Rhyniella is a genus of fossil springtails (Collembola) from the Rhynie chert, which formed during the Pragian stage of the Early Devonian. One species has been described, Rhyniella praecursor. For some time it was believed to be the only hexapod from the Early Devonian ^[1]

History

Its remains were discovered in 1919. Reconstructed from the scattered bits and pieces of its exoskeleton, R. praecursor was described in 1926, and at first believed to be a larval insect.^[2] This study also described euthycarcinoid Heterocrania, and supposed larval insect mouthparts, later redescribed as Rhyniognatha hirsti in 1928 and considered as an insect^[3] or myriapod.^[4]

Description

Rhyniella grew to a length of about 1–2 mm and would have been a scavenger, feeding on rotting matter.^[5]

Notes and References

1. R. J. Tillyard. 1928. Some remarks on the Devonian fossil insects from the Rhynie chert beds, Old Red Sandstone. Transactions of the Entomological Society of London 76:65-71
2. Stanley . Hirst . S. . Maulik . On some Arthropod Remains from the Rhynie Chert (Old Red Sandstone) . Geological Magazine . 63 . 2 . 1926 . 69–71 . 10.1017/S0016756800083692 . 1926GeoM...63...69H . 129777833 .
3. Engel . M. S. . Grimaldi . D. A. . New light shed on the oldest insect . Nature . 427 . 6975 . 627–630 . 2004 . 14961119 . 10.1038/nature02291. 2004Natur.427..627E . 4431205 .
4. Haug . Carolin . Haug . Joachim T. . 2017-05-30 . The presumed oldest flying insect: more likely a myriapod? . PeerJ . 5 . e3402 . 10.7717/peerj.3402 . 2167-8359 . 5452959 . 28584727 . free .
5. Parker, Steve. Dinosaurus: the complete guide to dinosaurs. Firefly Books Inc, 2003. Pg. 74