Gliding Bristletails Give Clues on Evolution of Flight
18 March 2009
If macro-evolution occurred (evolution from single celled creatures to all the different kind of animals) then the wing also must have evolved. The wing is a complicated structure that is well suited to perform the task it was designed to do. The challenge to Darwinists is not just how the wing evolved but how it could have evolved multiple times in different creatures.
Birds, bats, and insects all have very different styles of wings. There are even differences within each of the kingdoms where insect A and insect B have fundamental structural differences so the wing would have had to evolve independently multiple times. A recent study was performed to test gliding ability of the arboreal bristletails, silverfish, and flying ant. The study was to determine if cutting off appendages or antennae would cause the insect to not be able to land normally.
Biologist Dr. Stephen P. Yanoviak wrote, "Here we show that arboreal jumping bristletails (Archaeognatha: Apterygota) are capable of gliding and controlled manoeuvres when falling from trees. We test the hypotheses that caudal appendages and/or antennae affect aerodynamic control in bristletails, and that aerial performance is a function of body size. We predicted that experimental manipulation of appendage length would reduce the frequency of successful trunk landings and glide performance."
Simply put, they are going to cut the legs off of bugs and see how well they can glide without them. This sounds like the type of thing a distraught 10 year old does on the playground.
Does cutting the antennae off of insects hinder their gliding ability? Of course it does! How well would you function if someone cut your limb off and tossed you off a tree?
Does this prove they evolved those antennae to help them glide? No! Mutations do not create new information to meet a need or a want. The reason insects have antennae is because they already have all the genetic information necessary to grow antennae. So did their parents, and their parents, and their parents. Natural selection does not create new information. Natural selection can only select from information that already exists. Survival of the fittest does not explain arrival of the fittest.
At the end of the report Dr. Yanoviak writes, "Winged insects probably evolved within the late Palaeozoic context of rapidly diversifying terrestrial ecosystems and abundant opportunities for aerial displacement."
Just because the trees are over 20' tall does not mean insects evolved wings to glide between those trees. The logical sequence of events is as follows:
- Insects can glide.
- Antennae help insects glide.
- Cutting antennae off encumber gliding ability.
A. There is no God therefore insects spontaneously evolved the ability to fly several times for no reason.
B. There is a God who designed the insect to glide and fly and by cutting wings off we impair that design.
The report concludes by saying, "The morphological precursors to pterygote wings remain enigmatic." In other words "We have no idea how wings could have evolved."
No one would see a 747 taking off on a runway and suppose that it assembled itself and taught itself how to fly. Every cell inside even the smallest bristletails is more complicated than any airplane ever built.
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/550200/
