Snakeflies are a group of predatory insects comprising the order Raphidioptera with two extant families: Raphidiidae and Inocelliidae, consisting of roughly 260 species. In the past, the group had a much wider distribution than it does now; snakeflies are found in temperate regions worldwide but are absent from the tropics and the southern hemisphere. They are a relict group and have been considered living fossils, as species from the early Jurassic period closely resemble modern-day species.
Frank Morton Carpenter received his PhD from Harvard University, and was curator of fossil insects at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology for 60 years. He studied the Permian fossil insects of Elmo, Kansas, and compared the North American fossil insect fauna with Paleozoic taxa known from elsewhere in the world. A careful and methodical worker, he used venation and mouthparts to determine the relationships of fossil taxa, and was author of the Treatise volume on Insects. He reduced the number of extinct insect orders then described from about fifty to nine.
The superfamily Siricoidea is an archaic group of the order Hymenoptera, consisting of six families of xylophagous sawflies. The group is well represented in early Tertiary and Mesozoic times, but a number of living taxa remain, including the family Anaxyelidae, which has recently been linked to this group. The female ovipositor is typically long and projects posteriorly, and is used to drill into wood.
Fibla carpenteri is an extinct species of snakefly in the Inocelliidae genus Fibla. F. carpenteri is named in honor of the paleoentomologist Dr Frank Carpenter, for his vast knowledge and interest in Raphidioptera.
Electrinocellia is an extinct monotypic genus of snakefly in the family Inocelliidae containing the single species Electrinocellia peculiaris and known from Eocene aged Baltic amber.
Florissantoraphidia funerata is an extinct species of snakefly, originally assigned to the raphidiid genus Raphidia, but subsequently transferred to the genus Florissantoraphidia. The name F. funerata is derived from the Latin funeratus meaning to "bury" or "intern". The species is known from a single female specimen, the holotype, deposited in the Department of Palaeontology at the Natural History Museum in London as specimen number "In. 26922". Though they did not study the specimen, Horst Aspöck, Ulrike Aspöck and Hubert Rausch in the 1991 work Die Raphidiopteren der Erde noted and figured the specimen as an "unidentified raphidiid". Dr. Michael S. Engel first studied and described the species after finding the specimen in the Department of Palaeontology collections. He published his type description in the journal Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science in 2003.
Ororaphidia is an extinct genus of snakefly containing two species: the type species Ororaphidia megalocephala and Ororaphidia bifurcata.
Styporaphidia is a genus of snakefly, belonging to the extinct family Mesoraphidiidae, containing up to two species, the type species Styporaphidia magia and tentatively Styporaphidia? hispanica. The genus was named from the Greek stypos meaning "stem" or "stump" and Raphidia, the type genus for, and most often used as, a stem for generic names in the order Raphidioptera. The species name of S. magia is from the Greek word mageia meaning "magic" while the species name for S.? hispanica is from the Latin Hispania meaning "Spain" in reference to the type locality of the species.
Archiinocellia is an extinct genus of Snakefly in the family Raphidiidae known from Eocene fossils found in western North America. The genus contains two species, the older Archiinocellia oligoneura and the younger Archiinocellia protomaculata. The type species is of Ypresian age and from the Horsefly Beds of British Columbia, while the younger species from the Lutetian Green River Formation in Colorado. Archiinocellia protomaculata was first described as Agulla protomaculata, and later moved to Archiinocellia.
Kachinus is an extinct genus of ant-like stone beetle in the family Staphylinidae containing the single species Kachinus antennatus.
Agulla is a genus of modern snakeflies in the family Raphidiidae.
Agulla mineralensis is an extinct species of snakefly in the raphidiid genus Agulla. The species is solely known from the Middle Miocene, late Bartovian stage, Pacific Union Site in the Stewart Valley Group, Mineral County, Nevada.
Priscaenigma is an extinct genus of snakefly of the Priscaenigmatidae family which was described by Whalley in 1985. The fossils were found on flatstones at Black Ven in Charmouth, Dorset at 50.7°N 2.9°W in a marine environment of the Charmouth Mudstone Formation. The fossils were collected by J. F. Jackson between 1961 and 1963. Its sister taxa is Hondelagia. The genus contains one species, the extinct Priscaenigma obtusa, also described by Whalley in 1985. Its forewing is 12.6 centimetres (5.0 in) in length. Only a forewing was found when the species was discovered.
Austroraphidia is an extinct genus of snakefly in the family of Baissopteridae. Austroraphidia fossils were described by Willmann in 1994. The genus was later described by Michael S. Engel in 2002. It has five sister taxa; Baissoptera, Cretinocellia, Cretoraphidia, Cretoraphidiopsis and Lugala. Its fossils were found at the Crato MNHN collection in Brazil, often known as the Cretaceous of Brazil. It contains one species, the extinct Austroraphidia brasiliensis, which was described by Nel et al. in 1990. Its average body length is 12.3 centimetres (4.8 in), the forewing is 10.2 by 3.0 centimetres and the hindwing is 9.5 by 2.88 centimetres.
Baissoptera is an extinct genus of snakefly in the Baissopteridae family which was described by Martynova in 1961. Since 1961, it has been described three times; Carpenter in 1992, Ponomarenko in 1988 and Engel in 2002. According to J. Jepson et al. in 2011, the parent taxon is Baissopteridae. Fossils of the species have been found in Brazil, China, Spain and Russia.
Mesoraphidiidae is an extinct family of snakeflies in the suborder Raphidiomorpha. The family lived from the Late Jurassic through the Late Cretaceous and is known from twenty-five genera. Mesoraphidiids have been found as both compression fossils and as inclusions in amber. The family was first proposed in 1925 by the Russian paleoentomologist Andrey Vasilyevich Martynov based on Upper Jurassic fossils recovered in Kazakhstan. The family was expanded in 2002 by the synonymizing of several other proposed snakefly families. The family was divided into three subfamilies and one tribe in a 2011 paper, further clarifying the relationships of the included genera.
Iberoraphidia is an extinct genus of snakefly in the family Mesoraphidiidae. The genus is solely known from a Cretaceous, Lower Barremian, fossil found in Spain. Currently the genus is composed of a single species, Iberoraphidia dividua.
Hondelage is a Stadtbezirk on the river Schunter in the north-eastern part of Braunschweig, Germany.
Archeorhinotermes is an extinct genus of termites in the family Archeorhinotermitidae, and is the sole genus of the family. There is one described species in Archeorhinotermes, A. rossi. It was discovered in Burmese amber.
Cratomastotermes is an extinct genus of termites in the family Cratomastotermitidae, the sole genus of the family. There is one described species in Cratomastotermes, C. wolfschwenningeri.
