a large insect from 300 million years ago, 2.6m centipede
▲ Fragment of an arm bone believed to belong to a human about 700,000 years ago. It is only about 5 cm long. (Source APSNS)
Recently the Associated Press has been publishing detailed analysis articles on natural ecology and evolutionary biology. Through this, the value of human evolution, identity, and civilization was emphasized.
Based on the research results of ancient biology authorities, AP said, “700,000 years ago, people would be about 96 cm tall. “
Based on research by the University of Tokyo in Japan, the news agency said, “About 20 years ago, scientists found a fossil of an early man just about 3.5 feet (about 1.07 m) tall on an island in Indonesia,” and “about 100,000 years ago.” “Those who were believed to be alive were nicknamed ‘Hobbits’.
The Hobbit was taken from a character who appeared in the Hollywood film ‘The Lord of the Rings’ in 2001, which was very popular at the time the fossil was discovered. The hobbits in the film were also a small breed, just over 1m tall.
A new study in August this year found that hobbit ancestors were likely much shorter.
Yusuke Kaifu, a co-researcher at the University of Tokyo, told the Associated Press, “We didn’t expect to find something smaller (than a hobbit) in an ancient ruin, about 700,000 years old,” and provided details such as a newly discovered early human skeleton.
▲ Bone fossils are believed to belong to early humans. (Source APSNS)
Researchers collected and processed early human jawbones from the ruins. Later, research results showed that early humans (about 700,000 years ago) were shorter than hobbits (about 100,000 years ago). In fact, thanks to small fragments of arm bones and further analysis, the height of people 700,000 years ago was about 95cm for adults. It was about 6cm shorter than humans 100,000 years ago, when they were just over 1m.
The research team analyzed them as one of the last early human species to go extinct. The results of this study were published in the journal Nature Communications last August.
Around 700,000 years ago, if humans had survived when they were less than 1m tall, there is also evidence that shows that large insects with a body length of almost 3m lived there. They live dating back around 300 million years.
▲ Approximate image of a large insect from around 300 million years ago called ‘Arthropleura’. Its body length reached 2.6m and its weight was around 50kg. (Source APSNS)
This arthropod, which lived in Europe and North America between 346 million and 290 million years ago at the end of the Paleozoic Era, reached 9 feet (about 2.6 m) in length. It is thought to be a centipede-shaped bug with dozens of legs.
The foundation is also fossil. However, there are no insect fossils left, only shell fossils left behind after they shed their skin. Based on this, we can only estimate the size.
As insects grow larger, their excrement comes out through the hole in their head. Based on their liquid traces, it is estimated that the insect would have been 2.6m long and weighed more than 100 pounds, or 50 kg.
According to the new study, the large beast has two short bell-shaped antennae on top, two crab-like eyes, and a tiny mouth adapted for chewing on leaves and bark.
It was named ‘Arthropleura’. Recently, a research team from the University of Claude Bernard Lyon 1 in France published the results of a study that reconstructed the head of Arthropleura in the latest issue of the international academic journal ‘Science Advances’.
