Articles
The ‘Oldest Known Fly’: A
Lesson in Caution
by Joachim Scheven
Evolutionists
generally believe that insects with two wings have evolved from
the ‘more primitive’ or ‘unspecialized’ four-winged
condition. If pressed for evidence, they would generally refer to
the fossil of ‘the oldest known fly’—a specimen
called Permotipula.
‘Archaeopteryx
Of The Flies’
Though
not quite as widely known as other alleged ‘links’,
Permotipula has nevertheless achieved quite a status as a definite ‘in-between
form’. It was discovered in Australia more than 50 years ago.1
However, all that it consisted of was a single wing, which was subsequently
lost. Its name comes from the fact that it was found in Permian rock
and was believed to be comparable to the wing of the familiar dipterous
(two-winged) craneflies Tipulidae. In subsequent works dealing with
the evolution of insects,2,3 we find quotations referring to Permotipula—yet
this one fossil wing has curiously ‘metamorphosed’ in
the literature into the remains of an insect with four wings. Thus,
it became enshrined as a four-winged ancestor of the two-winged
flies and midges of modern times (Diptera).
Embarrasing Rediscovery
However, the fossil has heen rediscovered —in the British Museum.
A fresh study of the wing venation (the arrangement of veins) has
shown that one character which was believed to be indicative of a
close relalionship to the Diptera is absent, and that ‘Permotipula
cannot be one of the direct ancestors of the recent Diptera’.4
Not only that, but it is of course painfully obvious that a single
wing cannot, in any case, be trumpeted as proof that its owner
had four.
All this goes
to show how cautious one must be whenever a discovery of an ‘unspecialized ancestor’ of
some animal or plant is hailed in the literature.
References
Tillyard, R.J., in Nature, p. 778, 1929 (quoted in Tillyard, ‘The
ancestors of Diptera’, Nature, 139, 1937).
Henning, W., Insect Phylogeny, Chichester, New York, 1981.
Rohdendorf, B.B., The Historical Development of Diptera, Edmonton,
1974.
WillMann, R., ’Rediscovered: Permotipula patricia, the oldest
known fly’, Naturwissenschaften 76, 375-377, 1989.
http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/1957/
Used
by permission of Creation Ministries International: www.creationontheweb.com
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