Eomeropidae

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Classis: Insecta
Cladus: Dicondylia
Subclassis: Pterygota
Cladus: Metapterygota
Infraclassis: Neoptera
Cladus: Eumetabola
Cladus: Endopterygota
Superordo: Panorpida
Cladus: Antliophora
Ordo: Mecoptera

Familia: Eomeropidae
Genera (5): Notiothauma – †Eomerope – †Jurathauma – †Tsuchingothauma – †Typhothauma
Name

Eomeropidae

Synonyms

Notiothaumidae

References

Carpenter, F.M. 1972: The affinities of Eomerope and Dinopanorpa (Mecoptera). Psyche, 79: 79–87. DOI: 10.1155/1972/65948
Ren, D.; Shih, C-k. 2005: The first discovery of fossil eomeropids from China (Insecta, Mecoptera). Acta zootaxonomica sinica, 30(2): 275–280. PDF

Vernacular names
中文: 原蝎蛉科

Eomeropidae is a family of aberrant, flattened scorpionflies represented today by only a single living species, Notiothauma reedi, known from the Nothofagus forests in southern Chile, while all other recognized genera in the family are known only as fossils, with the earliest definitive fossil known from Liassic-aged strata,[1] and the youngest from Paleogene-aged strata.[1][2]
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 Paleogene fossils from Eocene and Oligocene strata of North America, including the Allenby Formation and the Florissant Formation, and Paleocene to Oligocene strata of Russia.[2] 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.[3]
†Jurachorista. Soszyńska-Maj, et al., 2016 Known from the Early Jurassic, Sinemurian aged Charmouth Mudstone Formation of Dorset, England, is currently considered to be the oldest definitive member of the family.[4]
†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.[5]
Notiothauma. McLachlan, 1877 N. reedi is a remarkable species, flattened and extremely cockroach-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 taxon.[2]
†Tsuchingothauma. Ren and Shih 2005 T. shihi and T. gongi are both known from the Middle Jurassic Daohugou beds of China.[6][7]
†Typhothauma Ren and Shih 2005 known from the Early Cretaceous Dabeigou Formation and Yixian Formation of China.[6][8]

Phylogeny

The proposed phylogenetic relationships within Eomeropidae based on Soszyńska-Maj et al 2016.[4]
 

	Eomeropidae     Jurachorista     Jurathauma           Eomerope         Tsuschingothauma       Notiothauma     Typhothauma

 
 
References

Zhang Junxia; et al. (2011). "A new fossil eomeropid (Insecta, Mecoptera) from the Jiulongshan Formation, Inner Mongolia, China". Zoosystema. 33 (4): 443–450. doi:10.5252/z2011n4a2.
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.
Zhang, Kai; Zhao, Xiangdong; Bashkuev, Alexey S.; Xiao, Chuantao (2022-01-07). "The first eomeropid (Insecta, Mecoptera) from mid-Cretaceous Myanmar amber". Cretaceous Research: 105140. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2022.105140. ISSN 0195-6671.
Soszyńska-Maj, Agnieszka; Krzemiński, Wiesław; Kopeć, Katarzyna; Coram, Robert A. (2016). "Phylogenetic relationships within the relict family Eomeropidae (Insecta, Mecoptera) based on the oldest fossil from the Early Jurassic (Sinemurian) of Dorset, southern England". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 14 (12): 1025–1031. doi:10.1080/14772019.2016.1139007. ISSN 1477-2019.
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. doi:10.5252/z2011n4a2
D. Ren and C. K. Shih. 2005. The first discovery of fossil eomeropids from China (Insecta, Mecoptera). Acta Zootaxonomica Sinica 30(2):275-280
Zhao, Xiangdong; Zhao, Xianye; Chen, Lei; Zhang, Qi; Wang, Bo (December 2019). "A new species of Eomeropidae (Insecta: Mecoptera) from the Middle Jurassic of China". Proceedings of the Geologists' Association. 130 (6): 691–695. doi:10.1016/j.pgeola.2019.10.005.
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