Re: New light shed on the oldest (?flying) insect

[Nick Pharris <npharris@umich.edu>]

Quoting Tim Williams <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>:

> A very interesting article appears in tomorrow's _Nature_, which might give 
> some hope to those who argue for an origin of avian flight long, long before
> Archaeopteryx.
...
> Also, the paranotal 
> theory hypothesizes that insect wings evolved from lateral extensions of the
> thorax, called paranotal lobes ... originally used for controlled gliding 
> similar to what modern silverfish are capable of.  Under this hypothesis, 
> paranotal lobes presumably evolved later into broader, hinged structures 
> capable of powered flight, analogous to the transitional forms seen with 
> Archaeopteryx and modern birds and with 'flying lemurs' (Dermoptera) and 
> bats."

No mention at all of the wings-as-gill-branches theory?

Nick Pharris
Department of Linguistics
University of Michigan