Palaeodictyoptera
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The Palaeodictyoptera are an extinct order of medium-sized to very large, primitive Palaeozoic paleopteous insects, characterised by beak-like mouthparts, similarity between fore- and hind wings, and an additional pair of winglets (large Paranotal lobes) in front of the first pair of wings. The wings are often boldly marked, the colour patterns evident even in fossils. Some types attained huge size - e.g. Mazothairos had a wingspan of about 55 cm.
The Palaeodictyoptera are a paraphyletic assemblage of basal Palaeodictyopteroidean insects, rather than a clade, because they gave rise to other insect orders. They range in time from the Middle Carboniferous (late Serpukhovian or early Bashkirian in age) to the late Permian.
[edit] External links
- Paleodictyoptera at the Tree of Life project (list of taxa)
[edit] References
- Carpenter, F. M. 1992. Superclass Hexapoda. Volume 3 of Part R, Arthropoda 4; Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Boulder, Colorado, Geological Society of America.
- Grimaldi, David and Engel, Michael S. (2005-05-16). Evolution of the Insects. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-82149-5.
- Rasnitsyn, A.P. and Quicke, D.L.J. (2002). History of Insects. Kluwer Academic Publishers. ISBN 1-4020-0026-X.
