Create a list of articles to read later. You will be able to access your list from any article in Discover.
You don't have any saved articles.
Griffinflies: The earliest flying insects
Before dinosaurs evolved, back when the world was swampy and green 300 million years ago, giant dragonfly-like insects called griffinflies filled the skies. With wingspans that stretched up to a whopping 71 centimetres, these epic insects would have blocked out the Sun as they flew past.
What did griffinflies look like and where did they live?
Ben Price, a Principal Curator for part of our insect collection, says the body plan of dragonflies hasn’t really changed in 350 million years – they’ve just become smaller. So, if you imagine a regular dragonfly but bigger, much bigger, then you wouldn’t be far off.
Given their large wingspan, it’s unlikely that these giant griffinflies could have flown through a dense forest, so they most probably lived in open wetlands and marshlands.
An illustration of Meganeurites gracilipes, a giant dragonfly-like insect that lived about 300 million years ago.
Giant insects: Why did griffinflies grow so large?
In the first part of a dragonfly's life cycle they are larvae living in water and absorb oxygen into their bodies through gills. Adult dragonflies, on the other hand, absorb oxygen into their bodies through tiny holes called spiracles.
One theory about why griffinflies could grow so big is because there was a higher concentration of oxygen in the atmosphere 300 million years ago than there is today. This means insects could absorb enough oxygen into their bodies through their spiracles, even though they had enormous bodies.
Another theory as to why griffinflies came to be so large is that there were no aerial predators around to eat them. That was until birds evolved from dinosaurs and started to prey upon them – at this point these dragonfly-like insects had to become smaller and faster to escape being eaten.
Look for dragonflies around our ponds
Go looking for modern-day dragonflies around our ponds. They can be seen from late spring to summer. In the height of summer, they’re very active and easy to spot when the Sun is out.
Dragonfly larvae
The first part of a dragonfly’s life is the larval stage. In this stage, they live in streams, ponds and other aquatic habitats. With massive jaws, these larvae look terrifying. Dragonfly larvae are ferocious hunters, eating anything and everything they can find, even small fish!
Move around the image of the scanned dragonfly larva below to view this tiny terrifying creature.
The biggest dragonfly of them all
Meganeura monyi was the largest early dragonfly known to exist. This species was a predator that would have eaten other insects, with spines on its legs to trap and capture its prey. They probably also had large, sharp mandibles for slicing and chewing their prey.
These aerial predators probably weighed 100–150 grammes – about the same weight as a large apple.
The evolution of wings in insects
Even though wings probably evolved a few times in vertebrates – in bats, birds and pterosaurs – they may have evolved only once in insects.
Having wings gives you a massive advantage when it comes to survival. You can cross barriers such as water, access more food and escape predators.
The oldest known winged insect is a griffinfly from 325 million years ago called Delitzschala bitterfeldensis. This species is part of the now-extinct order Palaeodictyoptera, which has more than 30 families.
Where insect wings came from is still debated and there are competing theories about how wings evolved. Some researchers think they might have evolved from the gills of aquatic insect larvae because freshwater insects are the oldest evolutionary branch.
Another more recent theory is that insect wings evolved from the legs of their crustacean ancestors.
Fossilised impression from the wing of an extinct dragonfly-like insect found in a coal mine in Bolsover, UK, in 1978.
Giant centipedes and millipedes
Dragonflies weren’t the only invertebrate to be supersized in the Carboniferous Period. There were also massive millipedes, supersized scorpions and colossal centipedes.
Take the giant millipede Arthropleura armata, for example. It lived in what’s now Scotland and North America and grew up to two and a half metres long, making it the largest arthropod to have ever lived on Earth.
Our Evolution Garden features brass inlays of the giant millipede Arthropleura armata, shown here, as well as other prehistoric animals, including a giant dragonfly.
