A Tiny Insect That Survived the Extinction Event That Killed the Dinosaurs Raises Questions About Evolutionary Theory.
The mass extinction event that occurred 66 million years ago wiped out 75% of species, both plant and animal, around the globe. Even the dinosaurs could not survive.
However, among the survivors, there is a small black beetle known as the ground beetle, belonging to the family Carabidae, which has challenged Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.
The small beetle has raised significant questions for Darwin’s evolutionary theory (Photo: SCMP).
According to Darwin, all species that survive natural restructuring must change and evolve to adapt to the new world order.
However, this common insect has not changed in at least 100 million years. This conclusion comes from a new study published in the journals Palaeoentomology and The Innovation.
The study was led by Cai Chenyang, a researcher at the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, which is part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
To reach this conclusion, scientists discovered a species of ground beetle from the Cretaceous period among three amber fossils found in the Hukawng Valley of northern Myanmar, dating back approximately 100 million years.
When comparing the preserved specimens with modern-day counterparts, the research team found that this insect species has not altered its shape, size, or even dietary habits, despite significant changes in its habitat, including the mass extinction event.
This phenomenon is referred to by researchers as “evolutionary stasis,” challenging Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theory and potentially altering our understanding of many phenomena and entities that exist on this planet.
In recent years, an increasing number of scientists have called for a serious reevaluation of Darwin’s theory.
In 2014, in an article published in the journal Nature, a group of eight scientists posed the question: “Does evolutionary theory need to be reexamined?” Their answer was: “Yes, urgently.”
