| Miriholcorpa Temporal range: Middle Jurassic | |
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| Holotype photograph | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Mecoptera |
| Genus: | † Miriholcorpa Wang, Shih, & Ren, 2013 |
| Type species | |
| Miriholcorpa forcipata Wang, Shih, & Ren, 2013 | |
Miriholcorpa is an extinct genus of scorpionfly (Mecoptera) from the Middle Jurassic period of China. The type and only species is M. forcipata, described in 2013.
Miriholcorpa was discovered in the Jiulongshan Formation at Daohugou Village of Ningcheng County in Inner Mongolia, China. The fossil is late Middle Jurassic in age, from the Callovian–Bathonian boundary (c. 165 million years ago). The genus name derives from the Latin miri meaning amazing, in reference to the high-quality preservation, and Holcorpa, the type genus of the extinct Mecopteran family Holcorpidae, to which Miriholcorpa shows similarities. [1] The specific epithet forcipata, is Latin for pincer-like, in reference to the pincer-like structures on the genitalia. [1]
The holotype is 32.7 mm from head to the tip of the genital bulb. The left forewing, abdominal segments and genitalia are well preserved, while the venation of both hind wings are only partially preserved. The compound eyes are large and oval-shaped. The antennae are filiform. The genital bulb is enlarged with pincer-like structures, a feature hypothesized to be used in intrasexual competition with males, and/or a sexual display to females. [1]
The forewing anatomy of Miriholcorpa bears similarities to members of the Holcorpidae, yet the venation of the hindwings are not fully preserved, and cannot be used to definitively assign it to the family. As such, the describers placed Miriholcorpa as incertae sedis (uncertain placement) within Mecoptera pending further discoveries. Miriholcorpa was described along with another Mecopteran, Fortiholcorpa paradoxa , also unassigned to any family. [1]
Mecoptera is an order of insects in the superorder Endopterygota with about six hundred species in nine families worldwide. Mecopterans are sometimes called scorpionflies after their largest family, Panorpidae, in which the males have enlarged genitals raised over the body that look similar to the stingers of scorpions, and long beaklike rostra. The Bittacidae, or hangingflies, are another prominent family and are known for their elaborate mating rituals, in which females choose mates based on the quality of gift prey offered to them by the males. A smaller group is the snow scorpionflies, family Boreidae, adults of which are sometimes seen walking on snowfields. In contrast, the majority of species in the order inhabit moist environments in tropical locations.
Nannochoristidae is a family of scorpionflies with many unusual traits. It is a tiny, relict family with a single extant genus, Nannochorista, with eight species occurring in New Zealand, southeastern Australia, Tasmania, Argentina and Chile. Due to the group's distinctiveness from other scorpionflies, it is sometimes placed in its own order, the Nannomecoptera. Some studies have placed them as the closest living relatives of fleas. Most mecopteran larvae are eruciform, or shaped like caterpillars. Nannochoristid larvae, however, are elateriform, and have elongated and slender bodies. The larvae are aquatic, which is unique among mecopterans. The larvae are predatory, hunting on the beds of shallow streams, primarily on the larvae of aquatic Diptera like chironomids.
Bittacidae is a family of scorpionflies commonly called hangingflies or hanging scorpionflies.
Unicorn ("one horn", in Latin) is a genus of goblin spiders from South America, containing seven species that occur predominantly in high elevation, semi-desert regions of Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. Individuals are relatively large for goblin spiders, measuring up to 3.0 mm (0.12 in) in body length. The genus name refers to a characteristic pointed projection between the eyes and jaws of males. In at least one species, broken-off tips of the male pedipalps have been found within the genitalia of females, postulated as a means of sperm competition. Unicorn possesses several traits that suggest it is a relatively "primitive" member of the Oonopidae, and is classified with other similar, soft-bodied goblin spiders in the subfamily Sulsulinae.
Dinopanorpidae is a small family of extinct insects in the order Mecoptera (scorpionflies) that contains two genera and seven species.
Lichnomesopsyche is an extinct genus of mesopsychid mecopteran which existed in what is now China during the middle Jurassic period. It was found in the Daohugou Bed. It was named by Ren Dong, Conrad C. Labandeira and Shih ChungKun in 2010. Three species have been named, which can be distinguished by their differing male genitalia.
Coxoplectoptera or "chimera wings" is an extinct order of stem-group mayflies containing one family, Mickoleitiidae.
Mongolbittacus is an extinct genus of hangingfly in the family Bittacidae and containing a single species Mongolbittacus daohugoensis. The species is known only from the Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation, part of the Daohugou Beds, near the village of Daohugou in Ningcheng County, northeastern China.
Formosibittacus is an extinct genus of hangingfly in the family Bittacidae and containing a single species Formosibittacus macularis. The species is known only from the Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation, part of the Daohugou Beds, near the village of Daohugou in Ningcheng County, northeastern China.
Jurahylobittacus is an extinct genus of hangingfly in the family Bittacidae and containing a single species Jurahylobittacus astictus. The species is known only from the Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation, part of the Daohugou Beds, near the village of Daohugou in Ningcheng County, northeastern China.
The Tarsophlebiidae is an extinct family of medium-sized fossil odonates from the Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous period of Eurasia. They are either the most basal member of the damsel-dragonfly grade ("anisozygopteres") within the stem group of Anisoptera, or the sister group of all Recent odonates. They are characterized by the basally open discoidal cell in both pairs of wings, very long legs, paddle-shaped male cerci, and a hypertrophied ovipositor in females.
Fortiholcorpa paradoxa is an extinct species of scorpionfly (Mecoptera) from the Middle Jurassic of China. It is the only known species of its genus.
Jurassipanorpa is a genus of fossil scorpionfly containing two species described in 2014 from the Jiulongshan Formation of Inner Mongolia, China. The two species, J. impuctata and J. sticta, lived in the late Middle Jurassic period. Upon description, they were claimed to represent the oldest known representatives of the scorpionfly family Panorpidae, but this was later questioned.
Eorpidae is a small family of extinct insects in the scorpionfly order, Mecoptera, which contains a single genus, Eorpa. Three Eocene age species found in Western North America have been placed into the genus: E. elverumi, E. jurgeni, and E. ypsipeda.
Holcorpa is a genus of extinct insects in the scorpionfly order Mecoptera. Two Eocene age species found in Western North America were placed into the genus, H. dillhoffi and H. maculosa.
Holcorpidae is an extinct family of scorpionfies. It contains two genera, Conicholcorpa which is known from the Middle Jurassic Daohugou beds of Inner Mongolia, China, and Holcorpa, known from the Eocene of North America, including the McAbee Fossil Beds of British Columbia, and the Florissant Formation of Colorado. Members of this family are distinguished by their unusually long male genitalia, as well as characteristics of their wing venation. Both Miriholcorpa and Fortiholcorpa from the Middle Jurassic of China also have affinities to this family, but the incompleteness of their remains and differences from known holcorpids make their placement uncertain.
Euglossopteryx is an extinct genus of bee in the family Apidae known from a fossil found in North America. There is one described species in the genus, Euglossopteryx biesmeijeri.
Austropanorpa is an extinct genus of scorpionfly. It is the only member of the family Austropanorpidae. The type species, A. australis was described by Edgar Riek in 1952 based on two incomplete forewings from the Redbank Plains Formation of Queensland, of probable Eocene age, and was assigned to Panorpidae. Later, it was recognised as distinctive enough to be assigned to its own monotypic family by Rainer Willman in 1977. In 2018 the species "Orthophlebia" martynovae from the Early Jurassic (Toarcian) aged Cheremkhovo Formation near Lake Baikal in Siberia, described by Irina Sukacheva in 1985, was recognised as belonging to the genus. The genus is distinguished from other mecopterans by having nine branched radial sectors and four veins in the medial sector of both wings, as opposed to living panorpoids which are typically 5 and rarely 6 branched.
Palaeopsychops is an extinct genus of lacewing in the moth lacewings family Ithonidae. The genus is known from Early Eocene fossils found in Europe, and North America and is composed of ten species. The ten species can be informally separated into two species groups based on veination of the forewings, the "European" and "North American" groups. When first described, the genus was placed in the family Psychopsidae, but later was moved to Polystoechotidae, which itself is now considered a subgroup of the moth lacewings.
Choristopsychidae is an extinct family of scorpionflies, known from the Jurassic of Asia. The family was erected by Andrey Vasilyevich Martynov in 1937 to house Choristopsyche tenuinervis from the Early Jurassic (Pliensbachian) aged Sulyukta Formation in Kyrgyzstan. In 2013, two additional species in the genus Choristopsyche as well as a new second genus Paristopsyche containing the single species Paristopsyche angelineae were described from the Middle-Late Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation of Inner Mongolia, China. The family is noted for its distinctive broad wing shape, unique amongst mecopterans. Several members of the family have a distinct spotting pattern on the forewings.