A 324-million-year-old fossil reveals an early insect with paddle-like limbs that lived between water and land before insects conquered Earth
A newly discovered 324-million-year-old fossil, named Chosha praecursor, from western Texas, provides a rare glimpse into early insect evolution. This ancient insect had paddle-like limbs and a semi-aquatic lifestyle, suggesting that some early insects retained ancestral aquatic structures while adapting to humid environments at the water-land boundary, filling a gap in the fossil record.
Why it matters
This discovery significantly advances our understanding of insect evolution and the colonization of land by early life forms, shedding light on a crucial period in Earth's biological history.
Today, insects occupy nearly every terrestrial environment on Earth and account for more described species than any other animal group, yet the earliest stages of their evolutionary history remain poorly documented. A newly described species from western Texas, named Chosha praecursor, now offers a rare glimpse into that missing chapter. The animal lived roughly 324 million years ago during the Late Mississippian and combined recognisably insect-like anatomy with a body plan unlike that of any living insect. It had three pairs of thoracic walking legs, but its abdomen retained segmented appendages across all nine abdominal segments, with the posterior ones modified into broad, paddle-like structures. The anatomy, combined with evidence that the animal lived in a near-shore, shallow-water environment, suggests a semi-aquatic lifestyle.
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