I was comparing goths to cockroaches, I heard that if the world was hit by a meteorite and life as we know it was wiped out, then cockroaches would live on, [...]
This is in so far true that cockroaches are the oldest on land living species of insects we know of (apart from a recent finding of an centipede which is a bit older.
We can say the following : the oldest on land living species we know of are the group of spider / scorpions (they are relatives, even to the so-called "horseshoe crab, which is an older relative of both), and centipedes and cockroaches.
Cockroaches are found in strata that are Devon / Carbon aera, and thus
old. I mean in terms of animals living on land. Cockroaches are extremely robust / resistand, only topped by scorpions (which are known to survive even atom bombs).
A short note about centipedes : findings here in Germany (Insects are especially known from Hagen-Vorhalle, but also from numerous Devon and Carbon strata here in Germany) show that there have once been giant centipedes - half a meter wide and about two meters long (or even more). Fragments of them have been found. And well, snce I'm writing about records of biggest animals : The Dragonfly Meganeura had a wing-span of half a meter on each side - and it was
big ! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I've seen it as fossils but also models of it.
I've been studying Geology / Palaentology in the 90s, and we had a Professor who was escpecially good in the field of Insects. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />
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