Palaeodictyopterida

Palaeodictyopterida
Temporal range:
Reconstructions of larvae and adults of Megasecoptera (a-c) and Palaeodictyoptera (d-g):

a) adult Mischoptera nigra; b) early and c) older instar larvae of Mischoptera douglassi; d) adult Dunbaria fasciipennis; e) Idoptilus sp., early instar larva; f) larval exuvia of Palaeodictyoptera family indet.; g) Bizarrea obscura, larva

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Subclass: Pterygota
Superorder: Palaeodictyopterida
Bechly, 1996
Orders

The Paleodictyopterida or Palaeodictyopteroidea are an extinct superorder of Palaeozoic beaked insects, characterised by unique mouthparts consisting of 5 stylets. They represent the first important terrestrial herbivores, and the first major group of herbivorous insects. They appear during the Carboniferous (Serpukhovian stage) and continue through to the Late Permian. This large and diverse group includes 50% of all known Paleozoic insects. Palaeodictyopteroidea nymphs possessed movable wing pads and appear to have been able to perform simple flapping flight.

Phylogeny

An analysis by Sroka et al. (2015) recovered the following phylogenetic tree:[2]

Dicondylia

Zygentoma

Paranotalia

Carbotriplurida

Pterygota
Neopterygota
Palaeodictyopterida

Spilapteridae

†Thesoneuridae

†Homoiopteridae

†Eugereonidae

†Dictyoneuridae

Neoptera

Hydropalaeoptera

References

  1. ^ Petrulevičius, J. F.; Gutiérrez, P. R. (2025). "Oldest winged insects: first Megasecoptera from the early Carboniferous (Serpukhovian) of Argentina". Palaeontology. 68 (5) e70024. doi:10.1111/pala.70024.
  2. ^ Sroka, Pavel; Staniczek, Arnold H.; Bechly, Günter (2015-11-02). "Revision of the giant pterygote insect Bojophlebia prokopi Kukalová-Peck, 1985 (Hydropalaeoptera: Bojophlebiidae) from the Carboniferous of the Czech Republic, with the first cladistic analysis of fossil palaeopterous insects". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 13 (11): 963–982. doi:10.1080/14772019.2014.987958. ISSN 1477-2019.