Fossil Studies, Vol. 3, Pages 6: Reconciling Divergent Ages for the Oldest Recorded Air-Breathing Land Animal, the Millipede, Pneumodesmus newmani Wilson & Anderson, 2004: A Review of the Geology and Ages of the Basal Old Red Sandstone Stonehaven Group (Silurian–Early Devonian), Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Fossil Studies doi: 10.3390/fossils3020006

Authors:
Michael E. Brookfield
Elizabeth J. Catlos
Hector K. Garza

Divergent mid-Silurian (late Wenlock) and latest Silurian–earliest Devonian (Pridoli–Lochkovian) ages have been proposed for the strata bearing the millipede Pneumodesmus newmani, the oldest known undoubted air-breathing land animal, marking a significant event in the evolution of the first land biota. The late Wenlock age is based on physically correlating a non-marine section dated with spores and detrital zircon dates, across a fault, with a distinctly different non-marine section bearing the millipede. The Pridoli–Lochkovian ages are based on vertebrate fossils and detrital zircon dates from this latter section. A review of the available lithostratigraphic, petrological, and biostratigraphic data, plus detrital zircon dating of the basal Old Red Sandstone around Stonehaven, shows that the two dated sections have strata that are of different depositional environments, sources, and ages and that the totality of the evidence firmly dates the millipede-bearing strata as Pridoli–Lochkovian.

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Michael E. Brookfield www.mdpi.com