Å®ÉúСÊÓƵ

As a palaeoentomologist I agree with Neil Brindley (Letters, 13 March)
that to call dinosaurs ‘the most successful animals’ is indeed an insult
to insects.

However, the statement that ‘the fossil history of insects is almost
absent’ is incorrect.

Since I wrote an article about fossil insects in New Å®ÉúСÊÓƵ (‘The
Derbyshire darning needle’, 15 June 1978) there has been a steady stream
of discoveries all over the world. Specimens of fossil insects discovered
since then can be measured not just in thousands but in tens of thousands.

The evolution of the insects during the extinction of the dinosaurs
is just one area or research which does not yet show any evidence of extraterrestrial
intervention to support current theories. It seems that the insects went
through the K/T boundary with scarcely a nod at falling meteorites.

Paul Whalley Llangeinwen, Anglesey