Palaeodictyopterida

Palaeodictyopterida Temporal range: 326–252  Ma [1] PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Reconstructions of larvae and adults of Megasecoptera (a-c) and Palaeodictyoptera (d-g): a) adult Mischoptera nigra ; b) early and c) older instar larvae of Mischoptera douglassi ; d) adult Dunbaria fasciipennis ; e) Idoptilus sp., early instar larva; f) larval exuvia of Palaeodictyoptera family indet.; g) Bizarrea obscura , larva
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Subclass:	Pterygota
Superorder:	† Palaeodictyopterida Bechly, 1996
Orders
Clade †Megasecopteromorpha Order †Diaphanopterodea Order †Megasecoptera Order †Palaeodictyoptera Order †Permothemistida

The Paleodictyopterida or Palaeodictyopteroidea are an extinct superorder of Palaeozoic beaked insects, characterised by unique mouthparts consisting of 5 stylets. They represent the first important terrestrial herbivores, and the first major group of herbivorous insects. They appear during the Carboniferous (Serpukhovian stage) and continue through to the Late Permian. This large and diverse group includes 50% of all known Paleozoic insects. Palaeodictyopteroidea nymphs possessed movable wing pads and appear to have been able to perform simple flapping flight.

Phylogeny

An analysis by Sroka et al. (2015) recovered the following phylogenetic tree: ^[2]

Dicondylia	Zygentoma Paranotalia †Carbotriplurida Pterygota Neopterygota †Palaeodictyopterida †Spilapteridae †Thesoneuridae †Homoiopteridae †Eugereonidae †Dictyoneuridae †Megasecoptera †Permothemistida †Diaphanopterodea Neoptera Hydropalaeoptera †Bojophlebiidae Euhydropalaeoptera Odonatoptera Panephemeroptera

References

1. Petrulevičius, J. F.; Gutiérrez, P. R. (2025). "Oldest winged insects: first Megasecoptera from the early Carboniferous (Serpukhovian) of Argentina". Palaeontology. 68 (5) e70024. doi:10.1111/pala.70024.
2. Sroka, Pavel; Staniczek, Arnold H.; Bechly, Günter (2015-11-02). "Revision of the giant pterygote insect Bojophlebia prokopi Kukalová-Peck, 1985 (Hydropalaeoptera: Bojophlebiidae) from the Carboniferous of the Czech Republic, with the first cladistic analysis of fossil palaeopterous insects" . Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 13 (11): 963–982. doi:10.1080/14772019.2014.987958. ISSN   1477-2019.

• Grimaldi, David & Engel, Michael S. (2005). Evolution of the Insects. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-0-521-82149-0.
• Rasnitsyn, A.P. & Quicke, D.L.J. (2002). History of Insects. Kluwer Academic Publishers. ISBN   978-1-4020-0026-3.
• Haug, Joachim T.; Haug, Carolin; Garwood, Russell J. (2014). "Evolution of Insect Wings and Development - New Details from Palaeozoic Nymphs". Biological Reviews. 91 (1): 53–69. doi: 10.1111/brv.12159 . PMID   25400084.

External links

• Paleodictyopteroidea at the Tree of Life project
• Palaeodictyopteroidea by Nina Sinitshenkova, 2002