Rhachiberothidae, sometimes called thorny lacewings, are a

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

winged insects The Pterygota ( grc, πτερυγωτός, pterugōtós, winged) are a subclass of insects that includes the winged insects. It also includes insect orders that are secondarily wingless (that is, insect groups whose ancestors once had wings b ...

in the order

Neuroptera The insect order Neuroptera, or net-winged insects, includes the lacewings, mantidflies, antlions, and their relatives. The order consists of some 6,000 species. Neuroptera can be grouped together with the Megaloptera and Raphidioptera in th ...

. The family has only 14 extant species in 4 genera found in

Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...

, but has a diverse fossil record extending back to the

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma. Geology Pro ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

(then part of North

Gondwana Gondwana () was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) and began to break up during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago). The final stages ...

Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago a ...

and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. Like the closely related

Mantispidae Mantispidae, known commonly as mantidflies, mantispids, mantid lacewings, mantisflies or mantis-flies, is a family of small to moderate-sized insects in the order Neuroptera. There are many genera with around 400 species worldwide, especially in ...

members of the group possess

raptorial The term ''raptorial'' implies much the same as ''predatory'' but most often refers to modifications of an arthropod's foreleg that make it function for the grasping of prey while it is consumed, where the gripping surfaces are formed from the o ...

forelegs, which probably only evolved once in the common ancestor of the groups. Long included in the

Berothidae The Berothidae are a family of winged insects of the order Neuroptera. They are known commonly as the beaded lacewings. The family was first named by Anton Handlirsch in 1906. The family consists of 24 genera and 110 living species distributed ...

(beaded lacewings), they are usually considered a separate family by current authors. Another closely related group are the mantidflies (

), and at least some of the probably

paraphyletic In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...

group of

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

forms collectively called " Mesithonidae" also seem to be quite close.

Taxonomy

*Rhachiberothidae Tjeder, 1959 ** † Paraberothinae Nel ''et al''., 2005 *** †'' Acanthoberotha'' Nakamine et al, 2020

Burmese amber Burmese amber, also known as Burmite or Kachin amber, is amber from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar. The amber is dated to around 100 million years ago, during the latest Albian to earliest Cenomanian ages of the mid-Cretaceous period. The ...

, Late Cretaceous (

Cenomanian The Cenomanian is, in the ICS' geological timescale, the oldest or earliest age of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or the lowest stage of the Upper Cretaceous Series. An age is a unit of geochronology; it is a unit of time; the stage is a unit in the s ...

) ***†'' Albertoberotha'' McKellar & Engel, 2009

Canadian amber Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

, Late Cretaceous (

Campanian The Campanian is the fifth of six ages of the Late Cretaceous Epoch on the geologic timescale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). In chronostratigraphy, it is the fifth of six stages in the Upper Cretaceous Series. Campanian s ...

) *** †'' Alboberotha'' Nel ''et al''., 2005 Charentese amber, France, Cenomanian ***†'' Astioberotha'' Nakamine et al, 2020 Burmese amber, Cenomanian *** †'' Chimerhachiberotha'' Nel ''et al''., 2005

Lebanese amber Lebanese amber is fossilized resin found in Lebanon and southwest Syria. It dates back approximately 130-125 million years to the Barremian of the Early Cretaceous. It formed on what was then the northern coast of Gondwana, believed to be a tropica ...

, Early Cretaceous (

Barremian The Barremian is an age in the geologic timescale (or a chronostratigraphic stage) between 129.4 ± 1.5 Ma (million years ago) and 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma). It is a subdivision of the Early Cretaceous Epoch (or Lower Cretaceous Series). It is preceded ...

) *** †'' Creagroparaberotha'' Makarkin, 2015 Burmese amber, Cenomanian *** †'' Eorhachiberotha'' Engel, 2004 Burmese amber, Cenomanian *** †'' Kujiberotha'' Nakamine & Yamamoto, 2018

Kuji amber is a Japanese city in Iwate Prefecture. , the city had an estimated population of 34,418 in 15,675 households, and a population density of 55 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Kuji is in far northeastern Iwate Prefec ...

, Japan, Late Cretaceous (

Santonian The Santonian is an age in the geologic timescale or a chronostratigraphic stage. It is a subdivision of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series. It spans the time between 86.3 ± 0.7 mya (million years ago) and 83.6 ± 0.7 mya. The ...

) *** †'' Micromantispa'' Shi ''et al''., 2015 Burmese amber, Cenomanian *** †'' Paraberotha'' Whalley, 1980 Lebanese amber, Barremian *** †'' Raptorapax'' Petrulevicius ''et al''., 2010 Lebanese amber, Barremian *** †'' Retinoberotha'' Schlüter, 1978 Bezonnais amber, France, Cenomanian *** †'' Rhachibermissa'' Grimaldi, 2000

New Jersey amber New Jersey Amber, sometimes called Raritan amber, is amber found in the Raritan and Magothy Formations of the Central Atlantic (Eastern) coast of the United States. It is dated to the Late Cretaceous, Turonian age, based on pollen analysis of th ...

, Late Cretaceous (

Turonian The Turonian is, in the ICS' geologic timescale, the second age in the Late Cretaceous Epoch, or a stage in the Upper Cretaceous Series. It spans the time between 93.9 ± 0.8 Ma and 89.8 ± 1 Ma (million years ago). The Turonian is preceded by t ...

) *** †'' Scoloberotha'' Engel & Grimaldi, 2008 Burmese amber, Cenomanian *** †'' Spinoberotha'' Nel ''et al''., 2005 Lebanese amber, Barremian ***†'' Stygioberotha'' Nakamine et al, 2020 Burmese amber, Cenomanian ***†'' Uranoberotha'' Nakamine et al, 2020 Burmese amber, Cenomanian ** Rhachiberothinae Tjeder, 1959 *** '' Hoelzeliella'' Aspöck & Aspöck, 1997 *** '' Mucroberotha'' Tjeder, 1959 *** '' Rhachiberotha'' Tjeder, 1959 *** '' Rhachiella'' Aspöck, Aspöck, Johnson, Donga & Duelli, 2020 *** †'' Whalfera'' Engel, 2004

Baltic amber The Baltic region is home to the largest known deposit of amber, called Baltic amber or succinite. It was produced sometime during the Eocene epoch, but exactly when is controversial. It has been estimated that these forests created more than 1 ...

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene' ...

**''Incertae sedis'' *** †'' Oisea'' Nel ''et al''., 2005

Oise amber Oise ( ; ; pcd, Oése) is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise. Inhabitants of the department are called ''Oisiens'' () or ''Isariens'', after the Latin name for the river, Isara. It had a population of 829,419 ...

, France, Eocene (

Ypresian In the geologic timescale the Ypresian is the oldest age (geology), age or lowest stage (stratigraphy), stratigraphic stage of the Eocene. It spans the time between , is preceded by the Thanetian Age (part of the Paleocene) and is followed by th ...

) *** †'' Paradoxoberotha'' Nakamine et al. 2022 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian

References

Mantispoidea Neuroptera Neuroptera families {{Neuroptera-stub