the origin of birds, we mentioned the cursorial theory that
evolutionary biologists propose. As we made clear then, the
question of how reptiles grew wings involves speculation about
"reptiles trying to catch insects with their front legs."
According to this theory, these reptiles' forefeet slowly
turned into wings over time as they hunted for insects.
There is no difference between
this 320-million-year-old fossil cockroach and specimens
We have already stressed that this theory is
based on no scientific discoveries whatsoever. But there is
another interesting side to it, which we have not yet touched
on. Flies can already fly. So how did they acquire wings?
And generally speaking, what is the origin of insects, of
which flies are just one class?
In the classification of living
things, insects make up a subphylum, Insecta, of the phylum
Arthropoda. The oldest insect fossils belong to the
Devonian Age (410 to 360 million years ago). In the Pennsylvanian
Age which followed (325 to 286 million years ago), there emerged
a great number of different insect species. For instance,
cockroaches emerge all of a sudden, and with the same structure
as they have today. Betty Faber, of the American Museum of
Natural History, reports that fossil cockroaches from 350
million years ago are exactly the same as those of today.142
Creatures such as spiders,
ticks, and millipedes are not insects, but rather belong to
other subphyla of Arthropoda. Important fossil discoveries
of these creatures were communicated to the 1983 annual meeting
of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
The interesting thing about these 380-million-year-old spider,
tick, and centipede fossils is the fact that they are no different
from specimens alive today. One of the scientists who examined
the fossils remarked that, "they looked like they might have
Winged insects also emerge suddenly in the fossil
record, and with all the features peculiar to them. For example,
a large number of dragonfly fossils from the Pennsylvanian
Age have been found. And these dragonflies have exactly the
same structures as their counterparts today.
Acantherpestes major millipede, found in the state
of Kansas in the United States, is some 300 million
years old, and no different from millipedes today.
fossil fly. This fossil, found in Liaoning in
China, is the same as flies of the same species
Winged insects emerge all of a sudden in the fossil
record, and from that moment they have possessed the
same flawless structures as today. The 320-million-year
fossil dragonfly above is the oldest known specimen
and is no different from dragonflies living today.
No "evolution" has taken place.
One interesting point here is the fact that dragonflies
and flies emerge all of a sudden, together with wingless insects.
This disproves the theory that wingless insects developed
wings and gradually evolved into flying ones. In one of their
articles in the book Biomechanics in Evolution, Robin
Wootton and Charles P. Ellington have this to say on the subject:
When insect fossils
first appear, in the Middle and Upper Carboniferous, they
are diverse and for the most part fully winged. There are
a few primitively wingless forms, but no convincing intermediates
A fossilized fly, trapped in
amber 35 million years ago. This fossil, found on the
Baltic coast, is again no different from those living
in our own time.
One major characteristic of flies, which emerge
all of a sudden in the fossil record, is their amazing flying
technique. Whereas a human being is unable to open and close
his arms even 10 times a second, an average fly flaps its
wings 500 times in that space of time. Moreover, it moves
both its wings simultaneously. The slightest dissonance in
the vibration of its wings would cause the fly to lose balance,
but this never happens.
In an article titled "The Mechanical Design of
Fly Wings," Wootton further observes:
The better we understand
the functioning of insect wings, the more subtle and beautiful
their designs appear Ö Structures are traditionally designed
to deform as little as possible; mechanisms are designed
to move component parts in predictable ways. Insect wings
combine both in one, using components with a wide range
of elastic properties, elegantly assembled to allow appropriate
deformations in response to appropriate forces and to make
the best possible use of the air. They have few if any technological
parallels - yet.145
Of course the sudden emergence
of living things with such a perfect design as this cannot
be explained by any evolutionist account. That is why Pierre-Paul
Grassť says, "We are in the dark concerning the origin of
insects."146 The origin of insects clearly
proves the fact of creation.
Kusinitz, Science World, 4 February, 1983, p. 19.
143 San Diego Union, New York Times
Press Service, 29 May, 1983; W. A. Shear, Science,
vol. 224, 1984, p. 494. (emphasis added)
144 R. J. Wootton, C. P. Ellington, "Biomechanics
& the Origin of Insect Flight," Biomechanics in Evolution,
ed. J. M. V. Rayner & R. J. Wootton, Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge, 1991, p. 99.
145 Robin J. Wootton, "The Mechanical Design
of Insect Wings," Scientific American, vol. 263,
November 1990, p. 120. (emphasis added)
146 Pierre-P Grassť, Evolution of Living
Organisms, Academic Press, New York, 1977, p. 30. (emphasis