Scottish Millipede - World's Oldest Bug!
A correspondent sent me the link to THIS ARTICLE which is based on THIS ARTICLE. But you need to pay to see the latter in full.
The interest in the find is that molecular clock calculations suggest that this millipede (an Arthropod) should have appeared at 500Ma - 75Ma before it actually did.
Obviously dates are important and the date of the specimen was found using the U/Pb method on zircons extracted from the sediment which contained the millipede. (With great care - pin glued to a pencil tip!). This was done for three UK sites.
The sites and ages were:-
Kerrera 425Ma (Kerrera is near Oban)
Ludlow 420Ma
Cowie 414Ma (Cowie is near Stonehaven)
The Rhynie Chert, which contains a diverse arthropod fauna, is 407Ma.
Google was able to supply this photo of a millipede said to be 425Ma.
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