The Scoliidae, the scoliid wasps, are a family of wasps comprising about 560 species worldwide. They tend to be black, often marked with yellow or orange, and their wing tips are distinctively corrugated. Males are more slender and elongated than females, with significantly longer antennae, but the sexual dimorphism is not as apparent as in many of the Tiphiidae and Thynnidae.
Horntail or wood wasp are any of the 150 non-social species of the hymenopteran family Siricidae, a type of wood-eating sawfly. The common name "horntail" derives from the stout, spine-like structure at the end of the adult's abdomen which is present in both sexes. The ovipositor in females is typically longer and also projects posteriorly, but it is not the source of the name. Though they are not wasps, they are sometimes called wood wasps as the appearance of some species resembles one due to mimicry. A typical adult horntail is brown, blue, or black with yellow or red parts, and may often reach up to 4 cm (1.6 in) long. The pigeon horntail can grow up to 5 cm (2.0 in) long, among the longest of all Hymenoptera.
Alexandr Pavlovich Rasnitsyn is a Russian entomologist, expert in palaeoentomology, and Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation (2001). His scientific interests are centered on the palaeontology, phylogeny, and taxonomy of hymenopteran insects and insects in general. He has also studied broader biological problems such as evolutionary theory, the principles of phylogenetics, taxonomy, nomenclature, and palaeoecology. He has published over 300 articles and books in several languages. In August 2008 he was awarded the Distinguished Research Medal of the International Society of Hymenopterists.
Anaxyelidae is a family of incense cedar wood wasps in the order Hymenoptera. It contains only one living genus, Syntexis, which has only a single species, native to Western North America. Fossils of the family extend back to the Middle Jurassic, belonging to over a dozen extinct genera, with a particularly high diversity during the Early Cretaceous. Syntexis lay eggs in the sapwood of conifers, preferring recently burnt wood.
The Xyelidae are a comparatively species-poor family of sawflies, comprising about 80 extant species in five genera worldwide, and is the only family in the superfamily Xyeloidea. The fossil record of the family is extensive, comprising more than 120 species and including the oldest fossil Hymenoptera species dating back to the Triassic, between 245 and 208 million years ago. Xyelidae are to be regarded as living fossils since they represent one of the oldest lineages of insects and include still extant forms.
The Pamphilioidea are a small superfamily within the Symphyta, containing some 250 living species restricted to the temperate regions of Eurasia and North America. These hymenopterans share the distinctive feature of a very large, almost prognathous head, which is widest ventrally.
Pamphiliidae is a small family within Symphyta, containing some 200 species from the temperate regions of North America and Eurasia. The larvae feed on plants, using silk to build webs or tents, or to roll leaves into tubes in which they feed, thus earning them the common names leaf-rolling sawflies or web-spinning sawflies. Some species are gregarious and the larvae live in large groups. Fossils of Pamphiliidae have been dated to the Jurassic period.
The Kugitang Formation or Group is an Oxfordian geologic formation in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and a geologic group in Turkmenistan. Dinosaur remains diagnostic to the genus level are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.
Plumalexius is a genus of wasps in the extinct monotypic family Plumalexiidae, containing two species: the type species Plumalexius rasnitsyni, known from the Late Cretaceous White Oaks Pit in Sayreville, New Jersey, and Plumalexius ohmkuhnlei, known from the Cretaceous Burmese amber.
The Madygen Formation is a Middle–Late Triassic (Ladinian–Carnian) geologic formation and lagerstätte in the Batken and Osh Regions of western Kyrgyzstan, with minor outcrops in neighboring Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The conglomerates, sandstones and mudstones of the 560 m (1,840 ft) thick formation were deposited in terrestrial lacustrine, alluvial, fluvial and deltaic environments.
Cucullistriga is an extinct genus of insects in the family Idelinellidae. It existed in what is now Russia during the Kungurian age. It was described by D. S. Aristov and A. P. Rasnitsyn in 2012, and the type species is C. cucullata. The body measured about 11.4 millimetres, while the forewings were about 10.8 millimetres.
Rasstriga is an extinct genus of insects. It existed in what is now Illinois, U.S.A. during the Pennsylvanian subperiod. It was described by D. S. Aristov and A. P. Rasnitsyn in 2012, and the type species is R. americana. Its body measured 22.5 millimetres in length, while its forewings were about 23 millimetres. It is currently placed in the family Idelinellidae, although its placement is uncertain.
Scutistriga is an extinct genus of insects in the family Idelinellidae. It existed in what is now Russia during the Kungurian age. It was described by D. S. Aristov and A. P. Rasnitsyn in 2012, and the type species is S. scutata. The body measured about 10.5 millimetres, while the forewings measured about 12 millimetres, and the hindwings about 10 millimetres. The species' fossils were discovered in the Ural Mountains.
Idelinellidae is a family of fossil cockroach-like insects. They closely resemble members of the family Stenoneuridae, and consist of the following species:
Propalosoma is an extinct genus of ants in the family Formicidae, containing a single species Propalosoma gutierrezae, known from the Eocene aged Klondike Mountain Formation in Washington State. The genus was originally placed in the wasp family Rhopalosomatidae, but moved to the ant subfamily Myrmeciinae by Archibald et al in 2018.
The cohort Polyneoptera is one of the major groups of winged insects, comprising the Orthoptera and all other neopteran insects believed to be more closely related to Orthoptera than to any other insect orders. They were formerly grouped together with the Palaeoptera and Paraneoptera as the Hemimetabola or Exopterygota on the grounds that they have no pupa, the wings gradually developing externally throughout the nymphal stages. Many members of the group have leathery forewings (tegmina) and hindwings with an enlarged anal field (vannus).
Geinitzia is an extinct genus of flying insects belonging to the order Reculida and family Geinitziidae. Species belonging to the genus lived from the Permian to the Jurassic and have been found in China, Germany, Kyrgyzstan, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Russia.
This paleoentomology list records new fossil insect taxa that were described during the year 2014, as well as notes other significant paleoentomology discoveries and events which occurred during that year.
Geinitziidae is an extinct family of polyneopteran insects, known from the Permian to Cretaceous. They are currently considered to be members "Grylloblattida" a poorly defined group of extinct insects thought to be related to modern ice crawlers (Grylloblattidae). Other authors place them in the extinct order Reculida. Unlike modern ice crawlers, which are wingless, they had large wings, bearing a superficial resemblance to cockroaches, and are thought to have been day-active above ground predators.
Paoliida is an extinct order of winged insects that lived in the late Paleozoic. Historically, both their systematic position and composition were controversial – for instance they had been considered as palaeodictyopterans, as basal Neoptera, or as stem-group of Pterygota – but recent studies have resolved them as the sister group of Dictyoptera.
