Megalodontoidea
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Megalodontoidea | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Acantholyda nemoralis (Pamphiliidae) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Suborder: | Symphyta |
| Superfamily: | Megalodontoidea Konow, 1897 |
| Families | |
|
Megalodontesidae | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Pamphilioidea | |
The Megalodontoidea are a small superfamily within the Symphyta, containing some 250 living species restricted to the temperate regions of Eurasia and North America. These hymenopterans share the distinctive feature of a very large, almost prognathous head, which is widest ventrally.
A prehistoric family, Xyelydidae, is known from the Jurassic of inner Asia. These animals were even odder-looking than their living relatives. The genus Ferganolyda had bizarre males, with a head half was large and twice as wide as the body and wiry elongated antennae. These features apparently were unsuitable for attack or defense and might have rendered the males effectively flightless.[1]
Footnotes
- ↑ Rasnitsyn et al. (2006)
References
- Rasnitsyn, Alexandr P.; Zhang, Haichun & Wang, Bo (2006): Bizarre fossil insects: web-spinning sawflies of the genus Ferganolyda (Vespida, Pamphilioidea) from the Middle Jurassic of Daohugou, Inner Mongolia, China. Palaeontology 49(4): 907-916. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2006.00574.x PDF fulltext
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