Insecta

Insects are invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have an exoskeleton, a three-part body, three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and a pair of antennae. Insects are the most diverse group of animals, with more than a million described species; they represent more than half of all animal species.

Insecta

Chiswick Chap · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
insectPBDB
Sits inside
CercofilataPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Arthropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB

Time the record covers

At least 323 million years on record.

The record covers at least 323.6 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 326.9 Mya to 0 Mya.

Carboniferous — about 596 of 12000 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 1925 of 12000 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 23 of 12000 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 528 of 12000 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 461 of 12000 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 1011 of 12000 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 146 of 12000 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 1066 of 12000 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 1402 of 12000 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 698 of 12000 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 197 of 12000 occurrencesEocene — about 2064 of 12000 occurrencesOligocene — about 847 of 12000 occurrencesMiocene — about 935 of 12000 occurrencesPliocene — about 13 of 12000 occurrencesPleistocene — about 72 of 12000 occurrences333–322 Mya — about 3 occurrences322–311 Mya — about 129 occurrences311–300 Mya — about 427 occurrences300–289 Mya — about 336 occurrences289–278 Mya — about 641 occurrences278–267 Mya — about 581 occurrences267–256 Mya — about 132 occurrences256–245 Mya — about 390 occurrences245–233 Mya — about 505 occurrences233–222 Mya — about 164 occurrences222–211 Mya — about 96 occurrences211–200 Mya — about 171 occurrences200–189 Mya — about 179 occurrences189–178 Mya — about 731 occurrences178–167 Mya — about 105 occurrences167–156 Mya — about 265 occurrences156–144 Mya — about 877 occurrences144–133 Mya — about 160 occurrences133–122 Mya — about 459 occurrences122–111 Mya — about 727 occurrences111–100 Mya — about 98 occurrences100–89 Mya — about 314 occurrences89–78 Mya — about 213 occurrences78–67 Mya — about 155 occurrences67–56 Mya — about 215 occurrences56–44 Mya — about 601 occurrences44–33 Mya — about 1486 occurrences33–22 Mya — about 825 occurrences22–11 Mya — about 786 occurrences11–0 Mya — about 231 occurrences323.6 Mya11.7 ka333 Mya0 Mya

12,000+ occurrences of Insecta on record. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

12,000 occurrences read

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. The read hit its cap, so every figure above is a floor and the shares are of the occurrences read. More on what this infers.

Found in

at least 426 formations

Karabastau — 42.90°N, 70.00°EKarabastau — 42.69°N, 70.41°EKarabastau — 42.95°N, 69.92°EWellington — 38.64°N, 97.21°WWellington — 36.51°N, 97.32°WWellington — 36.35°N, 97.30°WWellington — 36.90°N, 97.38°WWellington — 36.50°N, 97.44°WFlorissant — 38.92°N, 105.28°WFlorissant — 38.93°N, 105.24°WPosidonia Shale — 52.31°N, 10.62°EPosidonia Shale — 52.36°N, 10.59°EPosidonia Shale — 52.35°N, 10.74°EPosidonia Shale — 52.27°N, 10.68°EPosidonia Shale — 52.03°N, 10.29°EPosidonia Shale — 52.05°N, 10.13°EPosidonia Shale — 52.36°N, 10.89°EPosidonia Shale — 48.63°N, 9.51°EMadygen — 40.05°N, 70.21°EMadygen — 40.03°N, 70.25°EMadygen — 40.00°N, 70.20°EGreen River — 42.00°N, 107.00°WGreen River — 39.53°N, 107.78°WGreen River — 39.64°N, 108.76°WGreen River — 39.53°N, 107.95°WGreen River — 42.17°N, 109.42°WGreen River — 39.46°N, 108.41°WGreen River — 41.55°N, 109.51°WGreen River — 41.56°N, 109.55°WGreen River — 39.60°N, 108.40°WGreen River — 39.94°N, 108.20°WGreen River — 39.98°N, 109.11°WGreen River — 39.35°N, 108.20°WGreen River — 39.00°N, 108.00°WGreen River — 38.90°N, 109.20°WGreen River — 38.80°N, 108.25°WGreen River — 42.58°N, 109.94°WGreen River — 41.55°N, 109.55°WGreen River — 41.82°N, 110.76°WGreen River — 41.80°N, 110.70°WGreen River — 39.23°N, 108.22°WGreen River — 39.63°N, 108.15°WGreen River — 39.62°N, 108.01°WGreen River — 39.72°N, 108.72°WUpper Freshwater-Molasse — 47.67°N, 8.93°EIva-Gora Beds — 65.55°N, 43.67°EIva-Gora Beds — 65.59°N, 42.57°EIva-Gora Beds — 65.60°N, 43.62°ENiveau du gypse d'Aix — 43.52°N, 5.45°ECrato — 7.13°S, 39.70°WCrato — 7.12°S, 39.76°WCrato — 7.22°S, 39.27°WYixian — 42.06°N, 121.75°EYixian — 41.57°N, 119.33°EYixian — 41.16°N, 119.31°EYixian — 41.62°N, 120.83°EYixian — 41.42°N, 118.97°EYixian — 41.83°N, 121.13°EYixian — 41.54°N, 118.92°EYixian — 41.70°N, 120.50°EYixian — 41.19°N, 119.21°EYixian — 41.33°N, 119.13°EYixian — 41.38°N, 116.28°EYixian — 40.91°N, 117.92°EYixian — 41.15°N, 117.96°EYixian — 41.75°N, 120.80°EYixian — 41.03°N, 118.92°EYixian — 41.53°N, 121.10°EYixian — 42.04°N, 116.63°EYixian — 41.80°N, 116.52°EKoshelevka — 57.03°N, 57.72°EKoshelevka — 57.37°N, 57.23°EKoshelevka — 57.77°N, 57.84°EKoshelevka — 57.42°N, 57.27°ECroudace Bay — 33.00°S, 151.68°ECroudace Bay — 32.98°S, 151.65°EDaohugou — 41.32°N, 119.24°ESalt — 47.69°N, 7.53°EZaza — 53.30°N, 112.09°EZaza — 53.20°N, 112.82°EZaza — 53.17°N, 111.77°ECarbondale — 41.34°N, 88.39°WCarbondale — 41.78°N, 88.15°WCarbondale — 41.22°N, 88.26°WCarbondale — 41.22°N, 88.21°WCarbondale — 41.26°N, 88.23°WCarbondale — 39.93°N, 87.70°WCarbondale — 40.05°N, 87.57°WCarbondale — 39.97°N, 87.58°WCarbondale — 40.40°N, 90.80°WSolnhofen — 48.91°N, 11.14°ESolnhofen — 48.90°N, 11.18°ESolnhofen — 48.90°N, 10.96°ESolnhofen — 48.91°N, 11.54°ECommentry Shales — 46.29°N, 2.75°EMenat — 46.10°N, 2.90°EForemost — 49.83°N, 111.70°WLetovice — 49.46°N, 16.60°ELetovice — 49.46°N, 16.00°EWeald Clay — 51.13°N, 0.33°WWeald Clay — 50.83°N, 0.43°EWeald Clay — 51.10°N, 0.45°WWeald Clay — 51.22°N, 0.07°WWeald Clay — 52.72°N, 1.44°WWeald Clay — 51.17°N, 0.30°WBarstow — 34.95°N, 116.83°WBarstow — 34.94°N, 116.83°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Insecta has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. The read hit its cap, so each count is a floor. 402 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 2,589 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Found in the same rock

6,606 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records at least 533 sites for Insecta, and this reads 240 of them. Of that, one read hit the database's own return limit, so every count below is a floor rather than a total. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

at least 1,903 references

Each of the 12,000 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. That read hit its cap, so each count is a floor. 1,891 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Insecta

Credit
Chiswick Chap
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itCercofilata through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Linnaeus 1758)