Some Insects Recovered Immediately After The The Dinosaur ExtinctionSixty six million years ago an asteroid smashed into Chicxulub, Mexico. The blast created by the impact was so intense that it wiped out all of the dinosaurs as well as seventy five percent of all animal and plant life on earth. The meteor was so large that even insects as far as one thousand miles directly north and south of the point of impact were instantly killed. But how long did it take for insects to re-establish a place for themselves on this planet? According to fossil evidence collected from the western United States, it took insects nine million years to reappear on earth. However, according to fossil evidence gathered from South America's Patagonia region, insects in this area appeared twice as quickly as the insects from the western US. Scientists are not sure why the two groups of insects appeared at vastly different times following the great extinction. Researchers determined that it took the insects from Patagonia a much smaller number of four million years to re-evolve into insects. Experts believe that the insects evolved just as soon as there was enough vegetation available for the early insects to feed on. The reason insects evolved faster in South America may be because vegetation evolved, and even grew more rapidly due to the more conducive climatic conditions in the Patagonia region of South America. Was there any insects at all that survived the dinosaur extinction?