Arthropods colonized the land millions of years before the first vertebrates

While vertebrates are often credited with conquering the land, arthropods actually made the transition between 510 and 471 million years ago. Early pioneers like myriapods and the spider-like trigonotarbids evolved waterproof cuticles to prevent desiccation and specialized organs like book lungs to breathe air. These small colonizers moved onto land alongside the first vascular plants, creating the first terrestrial food webs in an environment previously dominated by microbial mats.