Eomeropidae

Eomeropidae Temporal range: Sinemurian–Recent PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Notiothauma reedi
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Mecoptera
Family:	Eomeropidae Cockerell 1909
Genera
†Burmothauma †Eomerope †Jurathauma †Tsuchingothauma †Thaumamerope †Typhothauma Notiothauma

Eomeropidae is a family of aberrant, flattened scorpionflies represented today by only a single living species, Notiothauma reedi, known from the Nothofagus forests in southern Chile, while all other recognized genera in the family are known only as fossils, with the earliest definitive fossil known from Liassic-aged strata,^[1][2] and the youngest from Paleogene-aged strata.^[1][3]

Ecology

Notiothauma adults are thought to be saprophagous with a preference for carrion, having been observed feeding on dead chickens and rabbits, though in one experimental study they were also observed feeding on plant material.^[4]

Genera

There are six extinct genera and one monotypic living genus which have been placed in Eomeropidae.

• †Eomerope. Cockerell 1909 This genus is known from Paleogene fossils from Eocene and Oligocene strata of North America, including the Allenby Formation and the Florissant Formation, and Paleocene to Oligocene strata of Russia.^[3] Because N. reedi is not known in the fossil record, Eomerope is the youngest of the fossil genera, and has the widest range.
• †Burmothauma Zhang at al. 2022 B. eureka is known from the mid Cretaceous Burmese amber of Myanmar.^[5]
• †Jurachorista. Soszyńska-Maj, et al., 2016 Known from the Early Jurassic, Sinemurian aged Charmouth Mudstone Formation of Dorset, England, is currently considered to be one of the oldest members of the family.^[6]
• †Jurathauma. Zhang et al. 2011 J. xinjiangensis is known from the Early Jurassic (Sinemurian) Badaowan Formation of Xinjiang, China,^[2] while J. simplex is known from the Middle Jurassic Daohugou Beds of Inner Mongolia, China.^[7]
• Notiothauma. McLachlan, 1877 N. reedi is a remarkable species, flattened and extremely cockroach-like in appearance and habits. It is nocturnal, and scuttles on the forest floor, where it can be collected by laying trails of oatmeal. The larvae are still unknown. Because this is the last extant species of Eomeropidae, N. reedi can be characterized as a living fossil taxon.^[3]
• †Tsuchingothauma. Ren and Shih 2005 T. shihi and T. gongi are both known from the Middle Jurassic Daohugou beds of China.^[8][9]
• †Typhothauma Ren and Shih 2005 known from the Early Cretaceous Dabeigou Formation and Yixian Formation of China.^[8][10]

Phylogeny

The proposed phylogenetic relationships within Eomeropidae based on Soszyńska-Maj et al 2016.^[6]

	Eomeropidae Jurachorista Jurathauma Eomerope Tsuschingothauma Notiothauma Typhothauma

Eomeropids have been suggested to be most closely related to the also poorly diverse and relictual Meropeidae.^[11]

References

1. Zhang Junxia; et al. (2011). "A new fossil eomeropid (Insecta, Mecoptera) from the Jiulongshan Formation, Inner Mongolia, China". Zoosystema. 33 (4): 443–450. doi:10.5252/z2011n4a2. hdl:11336/153453. S2CID 86466025.
2. Wang, Haoyi; Yao, Zongquan; Wang, Jun; Li, Qi; Yang, Jiangfeng (2023-08-29). "The first discovery of Eomeropidae (Insecta: Mecoptera) from the Lower Jurassic of northwestern China". Historical Biology: 1–5. doi:10.1080/08912963.2023.2250821. ISSN 0891-2963.
3. Archibald, S. Bruce, Alexandr P. Rasnitsyn, and Mikhail A. Akhmetiev. "Ecology and distribution of Cenozoic Eomeropidae (Mecoptera), and a new species of Eomerope Cockerell from the Early Eocene McAbee locality, British Columbia, Canada." Annals of the Entomological Society of America 98.4 (2005): 503-514.
4. Palmer, Christopher (2010). "Diversity of feeding strategies in adult Mecoptera". Terrestrial Arthropod Reviews. 3 (2): 111–128. doi:10.1163/187498310x519716. ISSN 1874-9828.
5. Zhang, Kai; Zhao, Xiangdong; Bashkuev, Alexey S.; Xiao, Chuantao (2022-01-07). "The first eomeropid (Insecta, Mecoptera) from mid-Cretaceous Myanmar amber". Cretaceous Research. 133: 105140. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2022.105140. ISSN 0195-6671. S2CID 245824880.
6. Soszyńska-Maj, Agnieszka; Krzemiński, Wiesław; Kopeć, Katarzyna; Coram, Robert A. (2016). "Phylogenetic relationships within the relict family Eomeropidae (Insecta, Mecoptera) based on the oldest fossil from the Early Jurassic (Sinemurian) of Dorset, southern England". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 14 (12): 1025–1031. doi:10.1080/14772019.2016.1139007. ISSN 1477-2019. S2CID 88199799.
7. Zhang J-X, Shih C-K, Petrulevičius JF, Ren D (2011) A new fossil eomeropid (Insecta, Mecoptera) from the Jiulongshan Formation, Inner Mongolia, China. Zoosystema 33(4): 443–450. doi:10.5252/z2011n4a2
8. D. Ren and C. K. Shih. 2005. The first discovery of fossil eomeropids from China (Insecta, Mecoptera). Acta Zootaxonomica Sinica 30(2):275-280
9. Zhao, Xiangdong; Zhao, Xianye; Chen, Lei; Zhang, Qi; Wang, Bo (December 2019). "A new species of Eomeropidae (Insecta: Mecoptera) from the Middle Jurassic of China". Proceedings of the Geologists' Association. 130 (6): 691–695. doi:10.1016/j.pgeola.2019.10.005. S2CID 210264894.
10. J. X. Zhang, C. K. Shih, and D. Ren. 2012. A new fossil eomeropid (Insecta, Mecoptera) from the Yixian Formation, Liaoning, China. Acta Zootaxonomica Sinica 37:68-71
11. Zhang, Yanjie; Labandeira, Conrad C.; Yu, Jiamiao; Shih, Chungkun; Ren, Dong; Gao, Taiping (2024-07-23). "Evolution and mandibular sexual dimorphism in mid‐Cretaceous scorpionflies (Insecta: Mecoptera: Meropeidae)". Journal of Systematics and Evolution. doi:10.1111/jse.13121. ISSN 1674-4918.