Arthropods: the first explorers!
This short film explores how arthropods became the first creatures to leave the sea and get onto land. This momentous event happened long before there were forests and trees, and several key adaptations made it possible for these pioneering bugs to make this transition, such as their exoskeleton and their breathing system. The film investigates how they were able to thrive in their new environments and what was the starting point of the amazing biodiversity that land-dwelling arthropods represent today.
This amazing story is told through the eyes of two arthropod characters: a news anchor and a bug specialist, in the context of the Paleozoic, seeing the first arthropods on land as explorers of a new world, similar to the astronauts of today.
This short film video was made by SEAS THE DAY Productions - an intrepid team of five University of Galway students as part of the course History of Life (@historyoflife7343 ):
Sìofra Collins - filming and animations
Katherine Doe - illustrations and the storyboard
Toinon Flecher - film and sound editing
Grace Lynch - research, script writing, voice over, and storyboard
Olivia Philo - research, script writing and voice over
We hope you enjoy this short film and that viewers manage to learn something valuable about this incredible moment in the evolution of life on land. Thanks to John Murray (who teaches History of Life) for enabling us to create this short film.
A big thank you for everyone involved in this project - many thanks for watching!
Image sources:
All the illustrations were hand drawn and animated by our team.
A free green screen video clip and a free sound effect have been used from Pixabay, many thanks to the creators who have made them able for our use.
References:
Aria, C. (2021) The origin and early evolution of arthropods. Biological reviews 97, doi:10.31233/osf.io/4zmey.
Davies, N.S., Garwood, R.J., McMahon, W.J., Schneider, J.W. & Shillito, A.P. (2021) The largest arthropod in Earth history: insights from newly discovered Arthropleura remains (Serpukhovian Stainmore Formation, Northumberland, England). Journal of the Geological Society 179, jgs2021-115. https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2021-115
Engel, M.S. (2015) Insect evolution. Current Biology 25, R868–R872. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2015.07...
Nel, A., Prokop, J., Pecharová, M., Engel, M.S. & Garrouste, R. (2018) Palaeozoic giant dragonflies were hawker predators. Scientific reports 8(1), 12141. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-30...
Shear, W.A. (2012) ‘An insect to fill the gap’, Nature, 488(7409), 34–35. doi:10.1038/488034a.