What if Giant Meganeura Didn't Go Extinct
Channel: What Is ?
Date: 2022-03-08

#dragonfly #meganeura

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400 million years ago
The Carboniferous (Carboniferous) period lasted 74 million years from
350 million to 286 million according to isotopic chronology.

In the conditions of the eternal summer of the humid tropics, the trunks of fallen trees quickly rotted. As a result, huge deposits of peat and coal accumulated over millions of years.

The largest coal basins in the world: Donetsk in Ukraine, Tunguska in Russia, Appalachian in the USA, and many others were formed at this time.

The fauna of the Carboniferous is the realm of insects, spiders, scorpions and amphibians that lived among vast swamps and dense forests. Among the first, one can just note giant dragonflies - meganeur, flying cockroaches, as well as arthropleura - relatives of centipedes.

Scientists were shocked and baffled when they discovered the remains of the Meganeuras fossil at the end of the 19th century!
…

According to modern concepts, the existence of insects of this size is simply impossible!



But is it really so?

The peculiarity of the respiratory system of insects is as follows: oxygen is supplied to the tissues in a passive way using the tracheal system - this imposes very severe restrictions on the possible size of an individual!

Why did giant insects still exist in the Paleozoic?

The main hypothesis for today is a higher oxygen content in the atmosphere of the Carboniferous period, which reached 35-50%, in contrast to the current 21%.

The land was completely covered at that time by forests, which produced oxygen in abundance, and carbon dioxide was consumed for the growth of plants ...
How was it bliss then  breathing .... 
That's when there was heaven on Earth ... but it’s not accurate ...

In this case,  sizes of insects become much, much larger!