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Horntail or wood wasp are any of the 150 non-social species of the hymenopteran family Siricidae, a type of wood-eating sawfly. The common name "horntail" derives from the stout, spine-like structure at the end of the adult's abdomen which is present in both sexes. The ovipositor in females is typically longer and also projects posteriorly, but it is not the source of the name. Though they are not wasps, they are sometimes called wood wasps as the appearance of some species resembles one due to mimicry. A typical adult horntail is brown, blue, or black with yellow or red parts, and may often reach up to 4 cm (1.6 in) long. The pigeon horntail can grow up to 5 cm (2.0 in) long, among the longest of all Hymenoptera.
Anaxyelidae is a family of incense cedar wood wasps in the order Hymenoptera. It contains only one living genus, Syntexis, which has only a single species, native to Western North America. Fossils of the family extend back to the Middle Jurassic, belonging to over a dozen extinct genera, with a particularly high diversity during the Early Cretaceous. Syntexis lay eggs in the sapwood of conifers, preferring recently burnt wood.
The Xyelidae are a comparatively species-poor family of sawflies, comprising about 80 extant species in five genera worldwide, and is the only family in the superfamily Xyeloidea. The fossil record of the family is extensive, comprising more than 120 species and including the oldest fossil Hymenoptera species dating back to the Triassic, between 245 and 208 million years ago. Xyelidae are to be regarded as living fossils since they represent one of the oldest lineages of insects and include still extant forms.
Cephoidea is a small superfamily within the Symphyta, commonly referred to as stem sawflies, containing some 100 species in 10 genera in the living family, Cephidae, plus another 17 genera in the extinct family Sepulcidae. They first appeared around 212 million years ago in the Norian Age, and are diurnal. Most species occur in the Northern Hemisphere, especially in Eurasia. The larvae are stem borers in various plants, especially grasses, but sometimes other herbaceous plants, shrubs, or trees. A few are pests of cereal grains. They are exceptionally slender for symphytans, often resembling other types of wasps, and they are the only Symphyta which lack cenchri. They are sometimes postulated to be the sister taxon to the Apocrita, though the Orussidae are more commonly considered such.
The Pamphilioidea are a small superfamily within the Symphyta, containing some 250 living species restricted to the temperate regions of Eurasia and North America. These hymenopterans share the distinctive feature of a very large, almost prognathous head, which is widest ventrally.
Glosselytrodea is an extinct order of insects, containing about thirty species. Its fossil record dates from the Permian to the Upper Jurassic, and is distributed across Eurasia, the Americas, and Australia. Its classification is uncertain, but may be closely related to Neuropterida or Orthoptera.
The Kugitang Formation or Group is an Oxfordian geologic formation in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and a geologic group in Turkmenistan. Dinosaur remains diagnostic to the genus level are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.
Paleolepidopterites is a collective genus of fossil moths which can not be placed in any defined family. The included species were formerly placed in the leaf-roller family Tortricidae and are known from fossils found in Russia and the United States. The collective genus contains three species: Paleolepidopterites destructus, Paleolepidopterites florissantanus, and Paleolepidopterites sadilenkoi, formerly placed within the genera Tortrix and Tortricites respectively. The three species were formally redescribed and moved to the new collective genus by Heikkilä et al. (2018).
Ypresiomyrma is an extinct genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmeciinae that was described in 2006. There are four species described; one species is from the Isle of Fur in Denmark, two are from the McAbee Fossil Beds in British Columbia, Canada, and the fourth from the Bol’shaya Svetlovodnaya fossil site in Russia. The queens of this genus are large, the mandibles are elongated and the eyes are well developed; a stinger is also present. The behaviour of these ants would have been similar to that of extant Myrmeciinae ants, such as solitary foraging for arthropod prey and never leaving pheromone trails. The alates were poor flyers due to their size, and birds and animals most likely preyed on these ants. Ypresiomyrma is not assigned to any tribe, and is instead generally regarded as incertae sedis within Myrmeciinae. However, some authors believe Ypresiomyrma should be assigned as incertae sedis within Formicidae.
Plumalexius is a genus of wasps in the extinct monotypic family Plumalexiidae, containing two species: the type species Plumalexius rasnitsyni, known from the Late Cretaceous White Oaks Pit in Sayreville, New Jersey, and Plumalexius ohmkuhnlei, known from the Cretaceous Burmese amber.
The Madygen Formation is a Middle–Late Triassic (Ladinian–Carnian) geologic formation and lagerstätte in the Batken and Osh Regions of western Kyrgyzstan, with minor outcrops in neighboring Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The conglomerates, sandstones and mudstones of the 560 m (1,840 ft) thick formation were deposited in terrestrial lacustrine, alluvial, fluvial and deltaic environments.
Rasstriga is an extinct genus of insects. It existed in what is now Illinois, U.S.A. during the Pennsylvanian subperiod. It was described by D. S. Aristov and A. P. Rasnitsyn in 2012, and the type species is R. americana. Its body measured 22.5 millimetres in length, while its forewings were about 23 millimetres. It is currently placed in the family Idelinellidae, although its placement is uncertain.
Scutistriga is an extinct genus of insects in the family Idelinellidae. It existed in what is now Russia during the Kungurian age. It was described by D. S. Aristov and A. P. Rasnitsyn in 2012, and the type species is S. scutata. The body measured about 10.5 millimetres, while the forewings measured about 12 millimetres, and the hindwings about 10 millimetres. The species' fossils were discovered in the Ural Mountains.
Strigulla is an extinct genus of insects in the family Idelinellidae. It existed in what is now Russia during the Kungurian age. It was described by D. S. Aristov and A. P. Rasnitsyn in 2012, as a new genus for the species Euryptilon cuculiophoris. S. cuculiophoris measured 10 millimetres in body length, with the forewings having about the same measurement.
Idelinellidae is a family of fossil cockroach-like insects. They closely resemble members of the family Stenoneuridae, and consist of the following species:
The cohort Polyneoptera is one of the major groups of winged insects, comprising the Orthoptera and all other neopteran insects believed to be more closely related to Orthoptera than to any other insect orders. They were formerly grouped together with the Palaeoptera and Paraneoptera as the Hemimetabola or Exopterygota on the grounds that they have no pupa, the wings gradually developing externally throughout the nymphal stages. Many members of the group have leathery forewings (tegmina) and hindwings with an enlarged anal field (vannus).
Aneuretopsychidae is an extinct family of scorpionflies known from the Mesozoic. Fossils are known from the Jurassic (Callovian-Oxfordian) to the early Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian). It is part of Mesopsychoidea, a group of scorpionflies with siphonate proboscis. They are suggested to have been nectarivores, feeding off the liquid pollination drops of and acting as pollinators for now extinct insect pollinated gymnosperms such as Bennettitales.
Geinitzia is an extinct genus of flying insects belonging to the order Reculida and family Geinitziidae. Species belonging to the genus lived from the Permian to the Jurassic and have been found in China, Germany, Kyrgyzstan, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Russia.
Geinitziidae is an extinct family of polyneopteran insects, known from the Permian to Cretaceous. They are currently considered to be members "Grylloblattida" a poorly defined group of extinct insects thought to be related to modern ice crawlers (Grylloblattidae). Other authors place them in the extinct order Reculida. Unlike modern ice crawlers, which are wingless, they had large wings, bearing a superficial resemblance to cockroaches, and are thought to have been day-active above ground predators.
Paoliida is an extinct order of winged insects that lived in the late Paleozoic. Historically, both their systematic position and composition were controversial – for instance they had been considered as palaeodictyopterans, as basal Neoptera, or as stem-group of Pterygota – but recent studies have resolved them as the sister group of Dictyoptera.
References
- ↑ D. S. Aristov and A. P. Rasnitsyn (2012). "Revision of the family Idelinellidae, with a review of the Permian Eoblattida (Insecta)". Paleontological Journal. 46 (1): 49–60. doi:10.1134/S0031030112010030. S2CID 140189151.