Eomeropidae

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Eomeropidae
Temporal range: Sinemurian–Recent
Notiothauma reedi.jpg
Notiothauma reedi
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
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]

Contents

Ecology

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]

Genera

There are six extinct genera and one monotypic living genus which have been placed in Eomeropidae.

Phylogeny

The proposed phylogenetic relationships within Eomeropidae based on Soszyńska-Maj et al 2016. [6]

Eomeropids have been suggested to be most closely related to the also poorly diverse and relictual Meropeidae. [11]

References

  1. 1 2 Zhang Junxia; et al. (2011). "A new fossil eomeropid (Insecta, Mecoptera) from the Jiulongshan Formation, Inner Mongolia, China". Zoosystema. 33 (4): 443–450. doi:10.5252/z2011n4a2. hdl: 11336/153453 . S2CID   86466025.
  2. 1 2 Wang, Haoyi; Yao, Zongquan; Wang, Jun; Li, Qi; Yang, Jiangfeng (2023-08-29). "The first discovery of Eomeropidae (Insecta: Mecoptera) from the Lower Jurassic of northwestern China" . Historical Biology: 1–5. doi:10.1080/08912963.2023.2250821. ISSN   0891-2963.
  3. 1 2 3 Archibald, S. Bruce, Alexandr P. Rasnitsyn, and Mikhail A. Akhmetiev. "Ecology and distribution of Cenozoic Eomeropidae (Mecoptera), and a new species of Eomerope Cockerell from the Early Eocene McAbee locality, British Columbia, Canada." Annals of the Entomological Society of America 98.4 (2005): 503-514.
  4. Palmer, Christopher (2010). "Diversity of feeding strategies in adult Mecoptera" . Terrestrial Arthropod Reviews. 3 (2): 111–128. doi:10.1163/187498310x519716. ISSN   1874-9828.
  5. Zhang, Kai; Zhao, Xiangdong; Bashkuev, Alexey S.; Xiao, Chuantao (2022-01-07). "The first eomeropid (Insecta, Mecoptera) from mid-Cretaceous Myanmar amber" . Cretaceous Research. 133: 105140. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2022.105140. ISSN   0195-6671. S2CID   245824880.
  6. 1 2 Soszyńska-Maj, Agnieszka; Krzemiński, Wiesław; Kopeć, Katarzyna; Coram, Robert A. (2016). "Phylogenetic relationships within the relict family Eomeropidae (Insecta, Mecoptera) based on the oldest fossil from the Early Jurassic (Sinemurian) of Dorset, southern England" . Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 14 (12): 1025–1031. doi:10.1080/14772019.2016.1139007. ISSN   1477-2019. S2CID   88199799.
  7. Zhang J-X, Shih C-K, Petrulevičius JF, Ren D (2011) A new fossil eomeropid (Insecta, Mecoptera) from the Jiulongshan Formation, Inner Mongolia, China. Zoosystema 33(4): 443–450. doi : 10.5252/z2011n4a2
  8. 1 2 D. Ren and C. K. Shih. 2005. The first discovery of fossil eomeropids from China (Insecta, Mecoptera). Acta Zootaxonomica Sinica30(2):275-280
  9. Zhao, Xiangdong; Zhao, Xianye; Chen, Lei; Zhang, Qi; Wang, Bo (December 2019). "A new species of Eomeropidae (Insecta: Mecoptera) from the Middle Jurassic of China" . Proceedings of the Geologists' Association. 130 (6): 691–695. doi:10.1016/j.pgeola.2019.10.005. S2CID   210264894.
  10. J. X. Zhang, C. K. Shih, and D. Ren. 2012. A new fossil eomeropid (Insecta, Mecoptera) from the Yixian Formation, Liaoning, China. Acta Zootaxonomica Sinica37:68-71
  11. Zhang, Yanjie; Labandeira, Conrad C.; Yu, Jiamiao; Shih, Chungkun; Ren, Dong; Gao, Taiping (2024-07-23). "Evolution and mandibular sexual dimorphism in mid‐Cretaceous scorpionflies (Insecta: Mecoptera: Meropeidae)" . Journal of Systematics and Evolution. doi:10.1111/jse.13121. ISSN   1674-4918.