Eomeropidae is 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 ...

of aberrant, flattened

scorpionflies Mecoptera (from the Greek language, Greek: ''mecos'' = "long", ''ptera'' = "wings") is an Order (biology), order of insects in the superorder Endopterygota with about six hundred species in nine Family (biology), families worldwide. Mecopterans ...

represented today by only a single living species, ''

Notiothauma reedi ''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 wi ...

'', known from the ''

Nothofagus ''Nothofagus'', also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of 43 species of trees and shrubs native to the Southern Hemisphere in southern South America (Chile, Argentina) and Australasia (east and southeast Australia, New Zealand, New Gui ...

'' 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 east a ...

, 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 ( ; British English, also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene; informally Lower Tertiary or Early Tertiary) is a geologic period, geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period million yea ...

-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 (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' ...

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 the ...

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 the Car ...

, including the

Allenby Formation The Allenby formation is a sedimentary rock formation in British Columbia which was deposited during the Ypresian stage of the Early Eocene. It consists of conglomerates, sandstones with interbedded shales and coal. The shales contain an abun ...

and the

Florissant Formation The Florissant Formation is a sedimentary geologic formation outcropping around Florissant, Teller County, Colorado. The formation is noted for the abundant and exceptionally preserved insect and plant fossils that are found in the mudstones and ...

, and Paleocene to Oligocene strata of

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. 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 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 ...

of Myanmar. * †'' Jurachorista''. Soszyńska-Maj, et al., 2016 Known from the Early Jurassic,

Sinemurian In the geologic timescale, the Sinemurian is an age and stage in the Early or Lower Jurassic Epoch or Series. It spans the time between 199.3 ± 2 Ma and 190.8 ± 1.5 Ma (million years ago). The Sinemurian is preceded by the Hettangian and is ...

aged Charmouth Mudstone Formation 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 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 ...

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 as ...

-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 fossi ...

taxon. * †'' Tsuchingothauma''. Ren and Shih 2005 ''T. shihi'' and ''T. gongi'' are both known from the Middle Jurassic

Daohugou beds 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 ...

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 The Dabeigou Formation is a paleontology, palaeontological formation located in Hebei, China.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 ex ...

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