Palaeontinidae
Encyclopedia
Palaeontinidae, commonly known as giant cicadas, is an extinct family
of cicadomorphs
. They existed during the Mesozoic era of Europe
, Asia
, and South America
. The family contains around 30 to 40 genera
and around a hundred species
.
, England
by the English
natural historian Edward Charlesworth. It was first described in 1873 by the English entomologist Arthur Gardiner Butler
in his book Lepidoptera Exotica; or, Descriptions and Illustrations of Exotic Lepidoptera. Butler claimed that it was the oldest butterfly
ever recovered, having mistakenly identified it as a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae
.
They possessed an inflated frons
and a long rostrum
(piercing and sucking mouthpart), indicating that they fed on xylem
fluids like some other modern hemiptera
ns.
The host plants of palaeontinids have been assumed to be ginkgophytes based on the geographic distribution of both groups. The extinction of palaeontinids during Early Cretaceous has been linked to the decline of ginkgophytes at the end of the Mesophytic era (Late Permian to Middle Cretaceous) and the rise of angiosperms (flowering plants). Numerous newly-evolved insectivorous animals (feathered theropods, primitive mammal
s, and early bird
s) may have also contributed significantly to their extinction.
Most species of palaeontinids exhibit cryptic coloration
. The patterns on their wings protected them as they perched on branches and fed on sap. They may also have served as secondary sexual characteristics. The color patterns can vary slightly within the same species.
Palaeontinids, like modern cicadas, possess four membranous wings supported by veins. The length and width ratio of the wings can vary within the same species, sometimes as a result of fossil preservation. Early Jurassic palaeontinids, like Suljuktocossus, exhibit the most primitive wing forms in the family. The forewing was elliptical with the "nodal line" (the area where the wing bends during flight, also known as the "transverse flexion line") more or less dissecting through the center of the wing. The hind wing was short and broad. The bases of the forewings overlapped that of the hind wings like in modern butterflies. Taken together with their large bodies, these characteristics indicate that they were fast but moderately versatile fliers.
In contrast, later palaeontinids like the Upper Jurassic Eocicada and Early Cretaceous Ilerdocossus had triangular forewings with the flexion line closer to the base. They had smaller and narrower hind wings that did not overlap with the forewing. These indicate that they were highly versatile fliers, able to fly with a wide range of speeds and agility like modern wasp
s and sphinx moths. They also possessed changes to the leading edge of their forewings, suggesting an overall gain in lift
.
The trend of forewing elongation is most evident in members of the family Mesogereonidae, an early offshoot and close relatives of palaeontinids.
in 1908. Like Butler, Handlirsch insisted that palaeontinids were members of lepidoptera
n Heteroneura
(butterflies and moths). Palaeontinids were then only known mostly from poorly preserved specimens like Palaeontina and Eocicada. He claimed they were related to the extant family Limacodidae
(slug moths). The English entomologist Edward Meyrick
supported the lepidopteran conclusion, though he believed they belonged to the family Hepialidae
(ghost moths) instead. He said "There is litle doubt that it [i.e. Palaeontina oolitica] belongs to the Hepialidae."
The Belgian
entomologist Auguste Lameere
challenged this conclusion, claiming palaeontinids were more closely related to the extant family Cicadidae (cicadas). The English-Australian
entomologist and geologist
Robert John Tillyard
supported Lameere's conclusion, noting that the wings of palaeontinid fossils lacked the characteristic scales of lepidopterans but instead had tubercules, pits, and cross-ridges like those found in modern cicadas. He also cited characteristics of wing venation that distinctly differs from that of lepidopterans.
Palaeontinidae are currently classified under the extinct superfamily Palaeontinoidea
along with the families Dunstaniidae and Mesogereonidae. They are classified under infraorder Cicadomorpha
of the hemiptera
ns (true bugs).
The name Cicadomorphidae was once proposed as a replacement for the name Palaeontinidae in 1956 by the Australian entomologist J.W. Evans. This was because of Handlirsch's earlier insistence that the type species
Palaeontina oolitica may not have been Hemiptera
n. However, Evans later conceded that retaining the name Palaeontinidae was preferable as the drawings Handlirsch based his conclusions on were from badly preserved specimens.
), insects believed to be transitional between the ancestral cicada-like family Prosbolidae and the modern family Cicadidae.
Wang et al (2009), however, notes that palaeontinoids more closely resemble prosbolids in agreement with earlier studies by Wootton (1971), Shcherbakov (1984), and Shcherbakov and Popov (2002). They conclude that palaeontinoids descended directly from the family Prosbolidae rather than from tettigarctids. Modern cicadas therefore, did not descend directly from Palaeontinidae.
Within Palaeontinoidea, the family Dunstaniidae (Upper Permian to Lower Jurassic of Australia
, South Africa
, and China
) is ancestral to palaeontinids. Both are distinct from the only other member of the superfamily, the more primitive and specialized family Mesogereonidae (Upper Triassic of Australia and South Africa).
age of the Upper Triassic and became extinct during the Early Aptian
age of the Lower Cretaceous (203.6 to 112.0 million years ago). They achieved their greatest diversity during the Jurassic
period.
The earliest palaeontinid discovered, is the poorly known genus Asiocossus, based on a forewing fragment recovered from the Upper Triassic of Kyrgyzstan
. Palaeontinid fossils are abundant in Eurasia
and South America
. Fossils have been recorded in Brazil
, China
, Russia
, Germany
, the Transbaikal
region, Tajikistan
, Turkmenistan
, Kyrgyzstan
, Kazakhstan
, Spain
, and the United Kingdom
. Important localities
for palaeontinid fossils include the Crato Formation
Lagerstätte
of Brazil
and the Yixian Formation
, Haifanggou (or Jiulongshan) Formation
, and the Daohugou Beds
of China
.
classified under Palaeontinidae:
Abrocossus Wang & Zhang, 2007 in Wang et al. 2007a - Middle Jurassic, East AsiaArchipsyche Handlirsch, 1906–1908 - Late Jurassic, Central EuropeAsiocossus Becker-Migdisova, 1962 - Upper Triassic, Central AsiaBaeocossus Menon et al. 2005 - Early Cretaceous, Eastern South AmericaBeloptesis Handlirsch, 1906–1908 - Late Jurassic, Central EuropeCicadomorpha Martynov, 1926 - Late Jurassic, Central Asia; Early Cretaceous North AsiaColossocossus Menon et al. 2005 - Early Cretaceous, Eastern South AmericaCratocossus Martins-Neto, 1998 - Early Cretaceous, Eastern South AmericaDaohugoucossus Wang et al. 2006b - Middle Jurassic, East AsiaEocicada Oppenheim, 1888 - Late Jurassic, Central EuropeEoiocossus Wang et al. 2006c in Wang et al. 2006c - (includes Papilioncossus Wang et al. 2007c) Middle Jurassic, East AsiaGansucossus Wang et al. 2006b - Middle Jurassic, East AsiaHamicossus Wang & Ren 2007ab - Middle Jurassic, East AsiaIlerdocossus Gomez-Pallerola, 1984 - (includes Wonnacottella Whalley & Jarzembowski, 1985 and Liaocossus Ren et al., 1998) Early Cretaceous, Western Europe & East AsiaLimacodites Handlirsch, 1906–1908 - Late Jurassic, Central EuropeMartynovocossus Wang & Zhang 2008 in Wang et al. 2008 - (= Pseudocossus Martynov, 1931) Early to Middle Jurassic, North Asia; Late Jurassic, Central AsiaMiracossus Ren et al. 1998 - Early Cretaceous, East AsiaMontsecocossus Gomez-Pallerola, 1984 - Early Cretaceous, Western EuropeNeimenggucossus Wang & Zhang, 2007 in Wang et al. 2007a - Middle Jurassic, East AsiaNingchengia Wang, Zhang & Szwedo, 2009 - (= Fletcheriana Evans, 1956 in partim) Middle Jurassic, East AsiaPachypsyche Handlirsch 1906 - Early Cretaceous, Western EuropePalaeocossus Oppenheim, 1885 - Early Jurassic, Central and North AsiaPalaeontina Butler, 1873 - Early Jurassic, Central and North AsiaPalaeontinodes Martynov, 1937 - (= Ijacossus Becker-Migdisova, 1950; Shcherbakov 1985) Early to Middle Jurassic, Central and North Asia; Middle Jurassic, Central AsiaParawonnacottella Ueda, 1997 - Early Cretaceous, Eastern South AmericaPhragmatoecicossus Becker-Migdisova, 1949 - Early to Middle Jurassic, Central AsiaPhragmatoecites Oppenheim, 1885 - Early to Middle Jurassic, North AsiaPlachutella Becker-Migdisova, 1949 - Early to Late Jurassic, Central and Eastern AsiaProlystra Oppenheim, 1888 - Late Jurassic, Central EuropeProtopsyche Handlirsch, 1906–1908 - Late Jurassic, Central EuropeShurabocossus Becker-Migdisova, 1949 - Early to Middle Jurassic, Central AsiaSinopalaeocossus Hong, 1983 - (= Quadraticossus Wang & Ren, 2007a) Middle Jurassic, East AsiaSuljuktaja Becker-Migdisova, 1949 - Early to Middle Jurassic, Central AsiaSuljuktocossus Becker-Migdisova, 1949 - (= Fletcheriana Evans, 1956 in partim) Early Jurassic, Central Asia; Middle Jurassic, North AsiaTurgaiella Becker-Migdisova & Wootton, 1965 - Jurassic, Central AsiaValdicossus Wang, Zhang & Jarzembowski 2008 - Early Cretaceous, Western EuropeYanocossus Ren, 1995 - Early Cretaceous, East Asia
Palaeontinidae incertae sedis
Cyllonium
Westwood, 1854 - Early Cretaceous, Western Europe (too poorly preserved)Palaeontinopsis Martynov, 1937 - Early Jurassic, Central Asia (nomen dubium
)“Palaeontinopsis” sinensis - Hong, 1986; Zhang, 1997 Middle Jurassic, East Asia“Fletcheriana” jurassica - Zhang, 1997“Fletcheriana” magna - Riek, 1976
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
of cicadomorphs
Cicadomorpha
The Cicadomorpha is the infraorder of the Hemiptera which contains the cicadas, leafhoppers, treehoppers, and spittlebugs. There are approximately 35000 described species worldwide...
. They existed during the Mesozoic era of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, and South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. The family contains around 30 to 40 genera
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
and around a hundred species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
.
Discovery
The first palaeontinid discovered was Palaeontina oolitica. It consisted of a single forewing collected from the Taynton Limestone Formation (Stonesfield Slate) of OxfordshireOxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
by the English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
natural historian Edward Charlesworth. It was first described in 1873 by the English entomologist Arthur Gardiner Butler
Arthur Gardiner Butler
Arthur Gardiner Butler was an English entomologist, arachnologist and ornithologist...
in his book Lepidoptera Exotica; or, Descriptions and Illustrations of Exotic Lepidoptera. Butler claimed that it was the oldest butterfly
Butterfly
A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...
ever recovered, having mistakenly identified it as a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae
Nymphalidae
The Nymphalidae is a family of about 5,000 species of butterflies which are distributed throughout most of the world. These are usually medium sized to large butterflies. Most species have a reduced pair of forelegs and many hold their colourful wings flat when resting. They are also called...
.
Description and paleobiology
Palaeontinids had large bodies covered with bristles (setae). They had small heads and broad wings. They superficially resemble moths. Large palaeontinids like Colossocossus had forewings that reached the length of 57 to 71 mm (2.2 to 2.8 in).They possessed an inflated frons
Frons
Frons is the term used to describe the frontal area of an insect's head. It covers the upper part of the face above the clypeus and below and between the antennae. It supports the pharyngeal dilator muscles and usually bears an ocellus . The term itself is derived from the Latin frons "forehead"....
and a long rostrum
Rostrum (anatomy)
The term rostrum is used for a number of unrelated structures in different groups of animals:*In crustaceans, the rostrum is the forward extension of the carapace in front of the eyes....
(piercing and sucking mouthpart), indicating that they fed on xylem
Xylem
Xylem is one of the two types of transport tissue in vascular plants. . The word xylem is derived from the Classical Greek word ξυλον , meaning "wood"; the best-known xylem tissue is wood, though it is found throughout the plant...
fluids like some other modern hemiptera
Hemiptera
Hemiptera is an order of insects most often known as the true bugs , comprising around 50,000–80,000 species of cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, shield bugs, and others...
ns.
The host plants of palaeontinids have been assumed to be ginkgophytes based on the geographic distribution of both groups. The extinction of palaeontinids during Early Cretaceous has been linked to the decline of ginkgophytes at the end of the Mesophytic era (Late Permian to Middle Cretaceous) and the rise of angiosperms (flowering plants). Numerous newly-evolved insectivorous animals (feathered theropods, primitive mammal
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
s, and early bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s) may have also contributed significantly to their extinction.
Most species of palaeontinids exhibit cryptic coloration
Crypsis
In ecology, crypsis is the ability of an organism to avoid observation or detection by other organisms. It may be either a predation strategy or an antipredator adaptation, and methods include camouflage, nocturnality, subterranean lifestyle, transparency, and mimicry...
. The patterns on their wings protected them as they perched on branches and fed on sap. They may also have served as secondary sexual characteristics. The color patterns can vary slightly within the same species.
Palaeontinids, like modern cicadas, possess four membranous wings supported by veins. The length and width ratio of the wings can vary within the same species, sometimes as a result of fossil preservation. Early Jurassic palaeontinids, like Suljuktocossus, exhibit the most primitive wing forms in the family. The forewing was elliptical with the "nodal line" (the area where the wing bends during flight, also known as the "transverse flexion line") more or less dissecting through the center of the wing. The hind wing was short and broad. The bases of the forewings overlapped that of the hind wings like in modern butterflies. Taken together with their large bodies, these characteristics indicate that they were fast but moderately versatile fliers.
In contrast, later palaeontinids like the Upper Jurassic Eocicada and Early Cretaceous Ilerdocossus had triangular forewings with the flexion line closer to the base. They had smaller and narrower hind wings that did not overlap with the forewing. These indicate that they were highly versatile fliers, able to fly with a wide range of speeds and agility like modern wasp
Wasp
The term wasp is typically defined as any insect of the order Hymenoptera and suborder Apocrita that is neither a bee nor an ant. Almost every pest insect species has at least one wasp species that preys upon it or parasitizes it, making wasps critically important in natural control of their...
s and sphinx moths. They also possessed changes to the leading edge of their forewings, suggesting an overall gain in lift
Lift (force)
A fluid flowing past the surface of a body exerts a surface force on it. Lift is the component of this force that is perpendicular to the oncoming flow direction. It contrasts with the drag force, which is the component of the surface force parallel to the flow direction...
.
The trend of forewing elongation is most evident in members of the family Mesogereonidae, an early offshoot and close relatives of palaeontinids.
Classification
The family was first erected by the Austrian entomologist Anton HandlirschAnton Handlirsch
Anton Handlirsch, exactly Anton Peter Josef Handlirsch was an Austrian entomologist.His father was Peter Handlirsch , mother was Rosina Handlirsch . His father worked as a cook of the Schwarzenberg family...
in 1908. Like Butler, Handlirsch insisted that palaeontinids were members of lepidoptera
Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...
n Heteroneura
Heteroneura
Heteroneura is a natural group in the insect order Lepidoptera that comprises over 99% of all butterflies and moths. This is the sister group of the infraorder Exoporia , and is characterised by wing venation which is not similar or homoneurous in both pairs of wings....
(butterflies and moths). Palaeontinids were then only known mostly from poorly preserved specimens like Palaeontina and Eocicada. He claimed they were related to the extant family Limacodidae
Limacodidae
Limacodidae or Euclidae is a family of moths in the superfamily Zygaenoidea or the Cossoidea; the placement is in dispute. They are often called slug moths because their caterpillars bear a distinct resemblance to slugs...
(slug moths). The English entomologist Edward Meyrick
Edward Meyrick
Edward Meyrick FRS was an English schoolmaster and amateur entomologist. He was an expert on microlepidoptera and some consider him one of the founders of modern Microlepidoptera systematics....
supported the lepidopteran conclusion, though he believed they belonged to the family Hepialidae
Hepialidae
The Hepialidae is a family of insects in the lepidopteran order. Moths of this family are often referred to as swift moths or ghost moths.-Taxonomy and systematics:...
(ghost moths) instead. He said "There is litle doubt that it [i.e. Palaeontina oolitica] belongs to the Hepialidae."
The Belgian
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
entomologist Auguste Lameere
Auguste Lameere
Auguste Alfred Lucien Lameere is a Belgian entomologist, born in 1862 in Ixelles, and died in 1942.He was a professor and dean of the faculty of sciences at the Université Libre de Bruxelles...
challenged this conclusion, claiming palaeontinids were more closely related to the extant family Cicadidae (cicadas). The English-Australian
Australian people
Australian people, or simply Australians, are the citizens of Australia. Australia is a multi-ethnic nation, and therefore the term "Australian" is not a racial identifier. Aside from the Indigenous Australian population, nearly all Australians or their ancestors immigrated within the past 230 years...
entomologist and geologist
Geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...
Robert John Tillyard
Robert John Tillyard
Robert John Tillyard FRS was an English–Australian entomologist and geologist. He was sometimes known as Robin....
supported Lameere's conclusion, noting that the wings of palaeontinid fossils lacked the characteristic scales of lepidopterans but instead had tubercules, pits, and cross-ridges like those found in modern cicadas. He also cited characteristics of wing venation that distinctly differs from that of lepidopterans.
Palaeontinidae are currently classified under the extinct superfamily Palaeontinoidea
Palaeontinoidea
Palaeontinoidea is an extinct superfamily of cicadomorphs. It contains three families.-Description:Palaeontinoids were cicada-like insects that existed from the Upper Permian to the Middle Cretaceous .-Subdivisions:The three families classified under Palaeontinoidea, along with their age range and...
along with the families Dunstaniidae and Mesogereonidae. They are classified under infraorder Cicadomorpha
Cicadomorpha
The Cicadomorpha is the infraorder of the Hemiptera which contains the cicadas, leafhoppers, treehoppers, and spittlebugs. There are approximately 35000 described species worldwide...
of the hemiptera
Hemiptera
Hemiptera is an order of insects most often known as the true bugs , comprising around 50,000–80,000 species of cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, shield bugs, and others...
ns (true bugs).
The name Cicadomorphidae was once proposed as a replacement for the name Palaeontinidae in 1956 by the Australian entomologist J.W. Evans. This was because of Handlirsch's earlier insistence that the type species
Type species
In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...
Palaeontina oolitica may not have been Hemiptera
Hemiptera
Hemiptera is an order of insects most often known as the true bugs , comprising around 50,000–80,000 species of cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, shield bugs, and others...
n. However, Evans later conceded that retaining the name Palaeontinidae was preferable as the drawings Handlirsch based his conclusions on were from badly preserved specimens.
Evolution
Riek (1976) originally considered Palaeontinoidea to be the descendants of the family Cicadoprosbolidae (currently known as the family TettigarctidaeTettigarctidae
The family Tettigarctidae, also known as the hairy cicadas is a small relictual family of primitive cicadas, containing a single genus Tettigarcta with two extant species, one in southern Australia , and the other in Tasmania ....
), insects believed to be transitional between the ancestral cicada-like family Prosbolidae and the modern family Cicadidae.
Wang et al (2009), however, notes that palaeontinoids more closely resemble prosbolids in agreement with earlier studies by Wootton (1971), Shcherbakov (1984), and Shcherbakov and Popov (2002). They conclude that palaeontinoids descended directly from the family Prosbolidae rather than from tettigarctids. Modern cicadas therefore, did not descend directly from Palaeontinidae.
Within Palaeontinoidea, the family Dunstaniidae (Upper Permian to Lower Jurassic of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
) is ancestral to palaeontinids. Both are distinct from the only other member of the superfamily, the more primitive and specialized family Mesogereonidae (Upper Triassic of Australia and South Africa).
Distribution and geologic time range
Palaeontinids first appeared during the RhaetianRhaetian
The Rhaetian is in geochronology the latest age of the Triassic period or in chronostratigraphy the uppermost stage of the Triassic system. It lasted from 203.6 ± 1.5 to 199.6 ± 0.6 million years ago...
age of the Upper Triassic and became extinct during the Early Aptian
Aptian
The Aptian is an age in the geologic timescale or a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is a subdivision of the Early or Lower Cretaceous epoch or series and encompasses the time from 125.0 ± 1.0 Ma to 112.0 ± 1.0 Ma , approximately...
age of the Lower Cretaceous (203.6 to 112.0 million years ago). They achieved their greatest diversity during the Jurassic
Jurassic
The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya to Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by...
period.
The earliest palaeontinid discovered, is the poorly known genus Asiocossus, based on a forewing fragment recovered from the Upper Triassic of Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan , officially the Kyrgyz Republic is one of the world's six independent Turkic states . Located in Central Asia, landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east...
. Palaeontinid fossils are abundant in Eurasia
Eurasia
Eurasia is a continent or supercontinent comprising the traditional continents of Europe and Asia ; covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres...
and South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. Fossils have been recorded in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, the Transbaikal
Transbaikal
Transbaikal, Trans-Baikal, Transbaikalia , or Dauria is a mountainous region to the east of or "beyond" Lake Baikal in Russia. The alternative name, Dauria, is derived from the ethnonym of the Daur people. It stretches for almost 1000 km from north to south from the Patomskoye Plateau and North...
region, Tajikistan
Tajikistan
Tajikistan , officially the Republic of Tajikistan , is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east....
, Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan , formerly also known as Turkmenia is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia. Until 1991, it was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic . Turkmenistan is one of the six independent Turkic states...
, Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan , officially the Kyrgyz Republic is one of the world's six independent Turkic states . Located in Central Asia, landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east...
, Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Important localities
Type locality (geology)
Type locality , also called type area or type locale, is the where a particular rock type, stratigraphic unit, fossil or mineral species is first identified....
for palaeontinid fossils include the Crato Formation
Crato Formation
The Crato Formation is a geologic formation of Early Cretaceous age in northeastern Brazil's Araripe Basin. It is an important Lagerstätte for palaeontologists. The strata were laid down mostly during the early Albian age, about 108 million years ago, in a shallow inland sea...
Lagerstätte
Lagerstätte
A Lagerstätte is a sedimentary deposit that exhibits extraordinary fossil richness or completeness.Palaeontologists distinguish two kinds....
of Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
and the Yixian Formation
Yixian Formation
The Yixian Formation is a geological formation in Jinzhou, Liaoning, People's Republic of China, that spans 11 million years during the early Cretaceous period...
, Haifanggou (or Jiulongshan) Formation
Haifanggou Formation
The Haifanggou Formation is a fossil-bearing rock deposit located in northeastern China, near Daohugou village of Ningcheng County. The rocks consists of coarse conglomerates, sandstone, mudstone and thin coal layers. The formation dates from the Middle Jurassic.-Arthropods:-Flora:...
, and the Daohugou Beds
Daohugou Beds
The Daohugou Beds are a series of fossil-bearing rock deposits located in northeastern China, with the type locality around Daohugou village of Ningcheng County south of Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, but extending into southwest Liaoning. The rocks are grey, finely bedded, lacustrine, sandy mudstones...
of China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
.
Genera
The following is the list of generaGenus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
classified under Palaeontinidae:
Abrocossus Wang & Zhang, 2007 in Wang et al. 2007a - Middle Jurassic, East AsiaArchipsyche Handlirsch, 1906–1908 - Late Jurassic, Central EuropeAsiocossus Becker-Migdisova, 1962 - Upper Triassic, Central AsiaBaeocossus Menon et al. 2005 - Early Cretaceous, Eastern South AmericaBeloptesis Handlirsch, 1906–1908 - Late Jurassic, Central EuropeCicadomorpha Martynov, 1926 - Late Jurassic, Central Asia; Early Cretaceous North AsiaColossocossus Menon et al. 2005 - Early Cretaceous, Eastern South AmericaCratocossus Martins-Neto, 1998 - Early Cretaceous, Eastern South AmericaDaohugoucossus Wang et al. 2006b - Middle Jurassic, East AsiaEocicada Oppenheim, 1888 - Late Jurassic, Central EuropeEoiocossus Wang et al. 2006c in Wang et al. 2006c - (includes Papilioncossus Wang et al. 2007c) Middle Jurassic, East AsiaGansucossus Wang et al. 2006b - Middle Jurassic, East AsiaHamicossus Wang & Ren 2007ab - Middle Jurassic, East AsiaIlerdocossus Gomez-Pallerola, 1984 - (includes Wonnacottella Whalley & Jarzembowski, 1985 and Liaocossus Ren et al., 1998) Early Cretaceous, Western Europe & East AsiaLimacodites Handlirsch, 1906–1908 - Late Jurassic, Central EuropeMartynovocossus Wang & Zhang 2008 in Wang et al. 2008 - (= Pseudocossus Martynov, 1931) Early to Middle Jurassic, North Asia; Late Jurassic, Central AsiaMiracossus Ren et al. 1998 - Early Cretaceous, East AsiaMontsecocossus Gomez-Pallerola, 1984 - Early Cretaceous, Western EuropeNeimenggucossus Wang & Zhang, 2007 in Wang et al. 2007a - Middle Jurassic, East AsiaNingchengia Wang, Zhang & Szwedo, 2009 - (= Fletcheriana Evans, 1956 in partim) Middle Jurassic, East AsiaPachypsyche Handlirsch 1906 - Early Cretaceous, Western EuropePalaeocossus Oppenheim, 1885 - Early Jurassic, Central and North AsiaPalaeontina Butler, 1873 - Early Jurassic, Central and North AsiaPalaeontinodes Martynov, 1937 - (= Ijacossus Becker-Migdisova, 1950; Shcherbakov 1985) Early to Middle Jurassic, Central and North Asia; Middle Jurassic, Central AsiaParawonnacottella Ueda, 1997 - Early Cretaceous, Eastern South AmericaPhragmatoecicossus Becker-Migdisova, 1949 - Early to Middle Jurassic, Central AsiaPhragmatoecites Oppenheim, 1885 - Early to Middle Jurassic, North AsiaPlachutella Becker-Migdisova, 1949 - Early to Late Jurassic, Central and Eastern AsiaProlystra Oppenheim, 1888 - Late Jurassic, Central EuropeProtopsyche Handlirsch, 1906–1908 - Late Jurassic, Central EuropeShurabocossus Becker-Migdisova, 1949 - Early to Middle Jurassic, Central AsiaSinopalaeocossus Hong, 1983 - (= Quadraticossus Wang & Ren, 2007a) Middle Jurassic, East AsiaSuljuktaja Becker-Migdisova, 1949 - Early to Middle Jurassic, Central AsiaSuljuktocossus Becker-Migdisova, 1949 - (= Fletcheriana Evans, 1956 in partim) Early Jurassic, Central Asia; Middle Jurassic, North AsiaTurgaiella Becker-Migdisova & Wootton, 1965 - Jurassic, Central AsiaValdicossus Wang, Zhang & Jarzembowski 2008 - Early Cretaceous, Western EuropeYanocossus Ren, 1995 - Early Cretaceous, East Asia
Palaeontinidae incertae sedis
Incertae sedis
, is a term used to define a taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined. Uncertainty at specific taxonomic levels is attributed by , , and similar terms.-Examples:*The fossil plant Paradinandra suecica could not be assigned to any...
Cyllonium
Cyllonium
Cyllonium are a genus of extinct insects. It contains two species.-Discovery:Both species of Cyllonium were first described by the English entomologist John Obadiah Westwood...
Westwood, 1854 - Early Cretaceous, Western Europe (too poorly preserved)Palaeontinopsis Martynov, 1937 - Early Jurassic, Central Asia (nomen dubium
Nomen dubium
In zoological nomenclature, a nomen dubium is a scientific name that is of unknown or doubtful application...
)“Palaeontinopsis” sinensis - Hong, 1986; Zhang, 1997 Middle Jurassic, East Asia“Fletcheriana” jurassica - Zhang, 1997“Fletcheriana” magna - Riek, 1976
See also
- HomopteraHomopteraHomoptera is a deprecated suborder of order Hemiptera; recent morphological studies and DNA analysis strongly suggests that the order is paraphyletic. It was therefore split into the suborders Sternorrhyncha, Auchenorrhyncha, and Coleorrhyncha....
- Prehistoric LepidopteraPrehistoric LepidopteraPrehistoric Lepidoptera are both butterflies and moths that lived before recorded history. The fossil record for Lepidoptera is lacking in comparison to other winged species, and tending not to be as common as some other insects in the habitats that are most conducive to fossilization, such as...
- Prehistoric insectsPrehistoric insectsPrehistoric insects are various groups of insects that lived before recorded history. Their study is the field of paleoentomology. Insects inhabited Earth since before the time of the dinosaurs. The earliest identifiable insect is the Devonian Rhyniognatha hirsti, estimated at...