''Rhyniella'' is a genus of

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

springtail Springtails (Collembola) form the largest of the three lineages of modern hexapods that are no longer considered insects (the other two are the Protura and Diplura). Although the three orders are sometimes grouped together in a class called Ento ...

s (

Collembola Springtails (Collembola) form the largest of the three lineages of modern hexapods that are no longer considered insects (the other two are the Protura and Diplura). Although the three orders are sometimes grouped together in a class called Ento ...

) from the

Rhynie chert The Rhynie chert is a Lower Devonian sedimentary deposit exhibiting extraordinary fossil detail or completeness (a Lagerstätte). It is exposed near the village of Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland; a second unit, the Windyfield chert, is locate ...

, which formed during the Pragian stage of the Early Devonian. One species has been described, ''Rhyniella praecursor''. For some time it was believed to be the only hexapod from the

Early Devonian The Early Devonian is the first of three epochs comprising the Devonian period, corresponding to the Lower Devonian series. It lasted from and began with the Lochkovian Stage , which was followed by the Pragian from and then by the Emsian, ...

( ). It was once considered to be the same animal as '' Rhyniognatha''.R. J. Tillyard. 1928. Some remarks on the Devonian fossil insects from the Rhynie chert beds, Old Red Sandstone. ''Transactions of the Entomological Society of London'' 76:65-71

History

Its remains were discovered in 1919. Reconstructed from the scattered bits and pieces of its exoskeleton, ''R. praecursor'' was described in 1926, and at first believed to be a

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. ...

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three ...

. Mouthparts initially assigned to ''R. praecursor'' were redescribed as '' Rhyniognatha hirsti'' in 1928. In later studies, ''Rhyniognatha hirsti'' was found to be an insect or

myriapod Myriapods () are the members of subphylum Myriapoda, containing arthropods such as millipedes and centipedes. The group contains about 13,000 species, all of them terrestrial. The fossil record of myriapods reaches back into the late Silurian, ...

Description

''Rhyniella'' grew to a length of about 1–2 mm and would have been a scavenger, feeding on rotting matter.Parker, Steve. ''Dinosaurus: the complete guide to dinosaurs''. Firefly Books Inc, 2003. Pg. 74

References

† Devonian animals of Europe Devonian arthropods Fossil taxa described in 1926 Transitional fossils {{paleo-arthropod-stub