Micropterigidae

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Micropterigidae
Temporal range: Middle Jurassic–Present
Micropterix aureoviridella (Hofner, 1898).jpg
Micropterix aureoviridella (Höfner, 1898)
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Suborder: Zeugloptera
Chapman, 1917 [1]
Superfamily: Micropterigoidea
Herrich-Schäffer, 1855
Family: Micropterigidae
Herrich-Schäffer, 1855
Genera

See text

Diversity
About 180 species

Micropterigoidea is the superfamily of "mandibulate archaic moths", all placed in the single family Micropterigidae, containing currently about twenty living genera. They are considered the most primitive extant lineage of lepidoptera (Kristensen, 1999), and the sole superfamily in the suborder Zeugloptera. The name comes from the Greek for mikros, little and pterux, a wing. [2] Unique among the Lepidoptera, these moths have chewing mouthparts rather than a proboscis, and are seen feeding, often in large aggregations, on the pollen of the flowers of many herbaceous plants, shrubs and trees. [3] [4] The fossil record of the group goes back to the middle-late Jurassic with the earliest known species being Auliepterix from the Karabastau Formation in Kazakhstan.

Contents

Presumed phylogenetic relationships within Micropterigidae based on Gibbs (2010) Micropterigidae phylogenetic relationships.JPG
Presumed phylogenetic relationships within Micropterigidae based on Gibbs (2010)

Genera

Extinct genera

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Osmylidae</span> Family of insects

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lepidoptera fossil record</span>

The Lepidoptera fossil record encompasses all butterflies and moths that lived before recorded history. The fossil record for Lepidoptera is lacking in comparison to other winged species, and tending not to be as common as some other insects in the habitats that are most conducive to fossilization, such as lakes and ponds, and their juvenile stage has only the head capsule as a hard part that might be preserved. Yet there are fossils, some preserved in amber and some in very fine sediments. Leaf mines are also seen in fossil leaves, although the interpretation of them is tricky. Putative fossil stem group representatives of Amphiesmenoptera are known from the Triassic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mesoraphidiidae</span> Extinct family of insects

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aneuretopsychidae</span> Extinct family of insects

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eremochaetidae</span> Extinct family of flies

Eremochaetidae is an extinct family of brachyceran flies known from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods of Asia. It is part of the extinct superfamily Archisargoidea. The morphology of the ovipositor of the only 3 dimensionally preserved genus Zhenia was initially interpreted as evidence of being an endoparasitoid of arthropods, however a subsequent study suggested that the ovipositor was used to deposit its eggs in plant material, similar to members of Tephritoidea. In a phylogenetic analysis, Ermochaetidae was found to be monophyletic, surrounded by a paraphyletic Archisargidae.

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Praeaulacidae is an extinct family of Mesozoic parasitic wasps in the suborder Evanioidea. It among the earliest known families of the group and is characterised by more complete wing venation in comparison to other members of the suborder. It has been found that Othniodellithidae is nested within Praeaulacidae via cladistic analysis.

Mesochrysopidae is an extinct family of lacewings known from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. They are considered to be closely related to green lacewings of the family Chrysopidae. The family are also alternatively considered a paraphyletic grade leading up to crown Chrysopidae.

Terncladus is an insect genus of Lepidoptera that belongs to the taxonomic family Micropterigidae. This genus has two species discovered, they are Terncladus luntus and Terncladus holonatus.

References

  1. van Nieukerken et al (2011) Order Lepidoptera Linnaeus, 1758. In: Zhang, Z.-Q. (Ed.) Animal biodiversity: An outline of higher-level classification and survey of taxonomic richness, Zootaxa 3148, 212-221
  2. Smith, Frank. "Microlepidoptera (Micro-Moths)". Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Federation for Biological Recorders. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  3. Sterling, Phil; Parsons, Mark; Lewington, Richard (2012). Field Guide to the Micromoths of Great Britain and Ireland. Milton-on-Stour: British Wildlife Publishing. p. 46. ISBN   978-0-9564902-1-6.
  4. Heath, John (1983). Micropterigidae. In The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland. Volume 1. Colchester: Harley Books. p. 151. ISBN   0-946589-15-1.
  5. Han, Ning; Zhang, Weiting; Fang, Hui; Wang, Jiajia; Shih, Chungkun; Ren, Dong (1 August 2024). "Geometric morphometric analyses of Micropterigidae lineages (Lepidoptera) with two new species from mid-Cretaceous amber of northern Myanmar". Cretaceous Research. 160: 105897. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2024.105897. ISSN   0195-6671.

Sources