Giant Insects

[Salivanto]

The question was raised in one of the on-topic sections of how a tick can breathe with its head in your skin. Ticks, like all insects basically breathe out of their backside, which apparently is what I was doing when I took issue with one person's explanation of where the giant prehistoric insects come from. I was delighted to hear about research which suggests that and insect's size is limited by is respertory/circulation system, and that fluctuating atmospheric oxygen levels would cause the maximum size of insects to change -- which is why there have been giant insects in the past, and why there are no man-sized locusts now.

Just as no theologan will claim that the children of Israel crossed the desert at the rate of 24 yards per day, puling up their tents every day as they went, I should have realized that atmospheric oxygen levels can fluctuate, even if the overall trend is for them to increase. I guess it was a weak moment. Thanks, everybody for the insight.