The World’s First Bugs Had Way More Legs

Meet the earliest known insects. Shaking hands with them will take a while.

The top 3

  1. The Most-Legged Ancient Arthropods: The extinct millipede-like arthropod Arthropleura, from the Carboniferous to Permian periods, had between 32 and 64 legs across its approximately 30 jointed segments. [1] An early insect ancestor, Chosha praecursor, had a total of 24 legs, including nine pairs on its abdomen. [32]
  2. Largest Arthropods in Earth's History: Arthropleura holds the record as the largest known arthropod, reaching over 2.6 meters (8.5 feet) in length and an estimated weight of 50 kg. [1, 13, 14] Another giant, the sea scorpion Jaekelopterus rhenaniae, was estimated to be 2.3-2.6 meters long. [21] Giant dragonflies like Meganeura boasted wingspans of up to 75 cm. [2]
  3. Earliest Arthropod Fossils and Their Features: The earliest evidence of arthropods dates back approximately 537 million years ago in the Early Cambrian Period, found in trace fossils. [3, 7] Body fossils of trilobites, considered crown-group arthropods, appeared around 521 million years ago. [3, 7, 11] Stem-group arthropods, such as Anomalocaris, emerged 518 million years ago. [7]

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