Geosciences Working Group

Fossil insects
Lecturer: Dr. Volker Lohrmann

The delicate structure is the reason why they rarely become fossils. Exceptions are the rich insect finds in amber and copal. Nevertheless, fossil insects can be found in many sedimentary rocks, but they are often overlooked. Famous are fossil beetles from the Messel pit near Darmstadt, which even show brightly shimmering elytrons, or insects from the Jura of East Germany and the early modern period in Denmark with detailed wing veinings. The oldest known insect is over 400 million years old, the largest fossil insects probably belong to the giant dragonfly Meganeura, which lived over 300 million years ago and is said to have reached a wingspan of more than 70 cm. This is reason enough to give a lecture on the enormous plenty of fossil insects and their evolution.

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