Eomeropidae Temporal range: | |
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Notiothauma reedi | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Mecoptera |
Family: | Eomeropidae Cockerell 1909 |
Genera | |
Eomeropidae is a family of aberrant, flattened scorpionflies represented today by only a single living species, Notiothauma reedi , known from the Nothofagus forests in southern Chile, while all other recognized genera in the family are known only as fossils, with the earliest definitive fossil known from Liassic-aged strata, [1] [2] and the youngest from Paleogene-aged strata. [1] [3]
Notiothauma adults are thought to be saprophagous with a preference for carrion, having been observed feeding on dead chickens and rabbits, though in one experimental study they were also observed feeding on plant material. [4]
There are six extinct genera and one monotypic living genus which have been placed in Eomeropidae.
The proposed phylogenetic relationships within Eomeropidae based on Soszyńska-Maj et al 2016. [6]
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Eomeropids have been suggested to be most closely related to the also poorly diverse and relictual Meropeidae. [11]