From AOL News onlineNew research hints that modern-day versions of the insects are far older than any tyrannosaur that trod the Earth. The vast amount of beetle species were thought to have arisen 140 million years ago, during the rise of flowering plants. But the new study of beetle DNA and fossils, published in the journal Science, pushes their appearance back to 300 million years ago. To date: 350,000 species of beetles have been cataloged around the world, and millions more are estimated to exist but haven't been discovered — which means they make up more than one-fourth of all known species of life forms. The reason for this tremendous diversity has been debated by scientists for many years but never resolved. However given the new "age" of the species and geological evidence of constantly changing environments, scientists now consider the large number of beetle species existing today could very well be a direct result of early evolutionary success.
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