Chresmodidae is an extinct family of

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretace ...

insects within the superorder

Polyneoptera The cohort Polyneoptera is a proposed taxonomic ranking for the Orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets, etc.) and all other Neopteran insects believed to be more closely related to Orthoptera than to any other insect orders. These winged insects, no ...

Genera

*'' Chresmoda'' Late Jurassic-Cenomanian, Worldwide *'' Jurachresmoda'' Zhang, Ren & Shih, 2008 Middle Jurassic,

Jiulongshan Formation The Haifanggou Formation (), also known as the Jiulongshan Formation (), is a fossil-bearing rock deposit located near Daohugou () village of Ningcheng County, in Inner Mongolia, northeastern China. The formation consists of coarse conglomerates ...

*'' Sinochresmoda'' Zhang, Ren & Pang, 2008 Early Cretaceous,

Yixian Formation The Yixian Formation (; formerly transcribed as Yihsien Formation) is a geological formation in Jinzhou, Liaoning, People's Republic of China, that spans the late Barremian and early Aptian stages of the Early Cretaceous. It is known for its exq ...

'' Prochresmoda'' from the Triassic of Kyrgyzstan is not currently considered part of the group and is considered to be more closely related to '' Triassophasma'' and '' Palaeochresmoda''.

Description

''Chresmodidae'' are large enigmatic insects with very long specialized legs, probably adapted for skating on the water surface, similar to extant water skaters. They can reach a size of about . and even . These

(partial syn Archaeorthoptera) of uncertain position have been considered aquatic, living on the water surface, probably predaceous on nektonic small animals.A. Nel, D. Azar, X. Martinez-Delclos and E. Makhoul
A new Upper Cretaceous species of Chresmoda from Lebanon - a latest representative of Chresmodidae (Insecta: Polyneoptera inc. sed.): first record of homeotic mutations in the fossil record of insects
/ref> They lived during the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...

of Brazil, China, Lebanon, Spain, United Kingdom, as well as in the

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of ...

of Germany and China, from ~166.0 to 94.3 Ma.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q18347475 Prehistoric insect families Triassic first appearances Cretaceous extinctions Polyneoptera