Eomeropidae is a

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

of aberrant, flattened scorpionflies represented today by only a single living species, '' Notiothauma reedi'', known from the '' Nothofagus'' forests in southern

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

, while all other recognized genera in the family are known only as fossils, with the earliest definitive fossil known from Liassic-aged strata, and the youngest from

Paleogene The Paleogene ( ; also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene; informally Lower Tertiary or Early Tertiary) is a geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning o ...

-aged strata.Archibald, S. Bruce, Alexandr P. Rasnitsyn, and Mikhail A. Akhmetiev. "Ecology and distribution of Cenozoic Eomeropidae (Mecoptera), and a new species of ''Eomerope'' Cockerell from the Early Eocene McAbee locality, British Columbia, Canada." Annals of the Entomological Society of America 98.4 (2005): 503-514.

Genera

There are six extinct genera and one monotypic living genus which have been placed in Eomeropidae. * †'' Eomerope''. Cockerell 1909 This genus is known from

fossils from

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

and

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but t ...

strata of

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 th ...

, including the Allenby Formation and the Florissant Formation, and Paleocene to Oligocene strata of

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

. Because ''N. reedi'' is not known in the fossil record, ''Eomerope'' is the youngest of the fossil genera, and has the widest range. *†'' Burmothauma'' Zhang at al. 2022 ''B. eureka'' is known from the mid Cretaceous Burmese amber of Myanmar. * †'' Jurachorista''. Soszyńska-Maj, et al., 2016 Known from the Early Jurassic, Sinemurian aged

Charmouth Mudstone Formation The Charmouth Mudstone Formation is a geological formation in England. It preserves fossils dating back to the early part of the Jurassic period (Sinemurian– Pliensbachian). It forms part of the lower Lias Group. It is most prominently expose ...

of Dorset, England, is currently considered to be the oldest definitive member of the family. * †'' Jurathauma''. Zhang et al. 2011 ''J. simplex'' is one of three species of eomeropid scorpionflies from the Middle Jurassic Daohugou Beds of China. Its wing veins are distinct from all other eomeropids.Zhang J-X, Shih C-K, Petrulevičius JF, Ren D (2011) A new fossil eomeropid (Insecta, Mecoptera) from the Jiulongshan Formation, Inner Mongolia, China. Zoosystema 33(4): 443–450. * ''

Notiothauma ''Notiothauma'' is the sole living genus in the scorpionfly family Eomeropidae. The genus is monotypic with a lone species ''Notiothauma reedi'' which is native to the Valdivian temperate rain forests of central Chile, especially the forests wit ...

''. McLachlan, 1877 ''N. reedi'' is a remarkable species, flattened and extremely

cockroach Cockroaches (or roaches) are a paraphyletic group of insects belonging to Blattodea, containing all members of the group except termites. About 30 cockroach species out of 4,600 are associated with human habitats. Some species are well-known ...

-like in appearance and habits. It is nocturnal, and scuttles on the forest floor, where it can be collected by laying trails of oatmeal. The larvae are still unknown. Because this is the last extant species of Eomeropidae, ''N. reedi'' can be characterized as a

living fossil A living fossil is an extant taxon that cosmetically resembles related species known only from the fossil record. To be considered a living fossil, the fossil species must be old relative to the time of origin of the extant clade. Living foss ...

taxon. * †'' Tsuchingothauma''. Ren and Shih 2005 ''T. shihi'' and ''T. gongi'' are both known from the Middle Jurassic Daohugou beds of China.D. Ren and C. K. Shih. 2005. The first discovery of fossil eomeropids from China (Insecta, Mecoptera). ''Acta Zootaxonomica Sinica'' 30(2):275-280 * †'' Typhothauma'' Ren and Shih 2005 known from the Early Cretaceous Dabeigou Formation and Yixian Formation of China.J. X. Zhang, C. K. Shih, and D. Ren. 2012. A new fossil eomeropid (Insecta, Mecoptera) from the Yixian Formation, Liaoning, China. ''Acta Zootaxonomica Sinica'' 37:68-71

Phylogeny

The proposed phylogenetic relationships within Eomeropidae based on Soszyńska-Maj ''et al'' 2016.

References

Mecoptera Insect families Extant Triassic first appearances {{Mecoptera-stub