Dragonflies and damselflies are incredible insects. They are arguably the world’s most skilled fliers, arguably the world’s most successful predators, and arguably the best insects (so says David). Not only that, they and their ancient cousins have been abundant and successful aerial predators for over 300 million years. This episode, we discuss what sets these bugs apart from all the rest, we explore what’s known of their evolution from their surprisingly good fossil record, and of course we highlight their most famous extinct cousins: the giant griffenflies.
In the news: croc habitats, tyrannosaur food, elephant trunks, and early mosquitos.
Time markers:
Intro & Announcements: 00:00:00
News: 00:04:30
Main discussion, Part 1: 00:34:15
Main discussion, Part 2: 01:13:15
Patron question: 01:53:45
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http://commondescentpodcast.com/
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The Intro and Outro music is “On the Origin of Species” by Protodome.
More music like this at http://ocremix.org.
Musical Interludes are "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Spook-E - Beholders
Episode 150 - Stegosaurs
Spook-E - Displacer Beasts
Spook-E - Owlbears
Episode 149 - Ants
Episode 148 - Gliding
Episode 147 - Genetics
Episode 146 - The Jurassic-Cretaceous Transition
Episode 145 - Photosynthesis
Episode 144 - Evolutionary Gigantism and Dwarfism
Saving Snakes with Hiral Naik
Episode 143 - Monitor Lizards
Episode 142 - Phytosaurs
Silver Screen Science - Jurassic World: Dominion
Conserving Crocs with Dr. Marisa Tellez
Episode 141 - Supercontinents
Silver Screen Science – Prehistoric Planet
Episode 140 - Horns and Antlers
Episode 139 - Vultures
Episode 138 - The Moon
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