Misplaced Pages

Megasecoptera

Article snapshot taken from[REDACTED] with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Extinct order of insects

Megasecoptera
Temporal range: Late Carboniferous–Permian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Adult of Mischoptera nigra (a) and reconstructions of early (b) and late (c) larvae of Mischoptera douglassi
Restoration of Corydaloides scudderi
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Superorder: †Palaeodictyopteroidea
Order: †Megasecoptera
Brongniart, 1885

Megasecoptera is a Paleozoic insect order. There are 22 known families of megasecopterans, with about 35 known genera.

Overview

Like all other paleodictyopteroids, the megasecopterans had sucking mouthparts. The suctorial mouth parts were probably used to pierce plant casings and extract high-quality plant materials, such as spores and pollen.

Unlike some earlier insects, megasecopterans bore two pairs of wings, which were nearly of the same size. The wings probably were held horizontally, as in dragonflies (Odonata, Anisoptera). The wing bases tend to be very slender and petiolated, as in damselflies (Odonata, Zygoptera). The body was usually long and thin, although the genus Protohymen was rather stouter and shorter than a typical megasecopteran. Another distinctive feature was the presence of a number of fine processes projecting from the body, which in some cases could be longer than the body itself, forming long fringes on the insect's underside.

During their relatively brief period of existence, the Megasecoptera were rather successful. It has been estimated that this insect order accounted for 50% of the insect biomass in some locations, but the available evidence might be misleading..

References

  1. Hoell, H.V.; Doyen, J.T. & Purcell, A.H. (1998). Introduction to Insect Biology and Diversity (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 321. ISBN 0-19-510033-6.

Sources

Palaeos.com

Insect orders
Extant
Monocondylia
D
i
c
o
n
d
y
l
i
a
P
t
e
r
y
g
o
t
a
Palaeoptera
Ephemeropteroidea
Odonatoptera
N
e
o
p
t
e
r
a
Polyneoptera
Notoptera
(Xenonomia)
Dictyoptera
E
u
m
e
t
a
b
o
l
a
Paraneoptera *
H
o
l
o
m
e
t
a
b
o
l
a
Neuropteroidea
Coleopterida
Neuropterida
Panorpida
(Mecopterida)
Antliophora
Amphiesmenoptera
  • Four most speciose orders are marked in bold
  • Italic are paraphyletic groups
  • Based on Sasaki et al. (2013)
Extinct
Taxon identifiers
Megasecoptera
Stub icon

This prehistoric insect-related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

Categories:
Megasecoptera Add topic