Meropeidae

Meropeidae
Meropeidae
Temporal range: Triassic to Recent220–0 Ma
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Mecoptera
Family: Meropeidae
Genera
  • Austromerope Killington, 1933 (Australia)
  • †Boreomerope Novokschonov, 1995 (Siberia; extinct)
  • Merope Newman, 1838 (USA, Canada)
  • †Thaumatomerope Rasnitsyn, 1974 (Kyrgyzstan; extinct)

The Meropeidae are a tiny family of the order Mecoptera with only two living species, both of which are commonly referred to as "earwigflies" (or sometimes "forcepflies"); the North American Merope tuber, and the Western Australian Austromerope poultoni. The biology of both of these species is essentially unknown, and their larvae have never been seen. The disjunct distribution, only North America and Western Australia, is reminiscent of that of the marsupial possum. There are two extinct genera, Boreomerope antiqua Novokschonov from the Middle Jurassic of Siberia and Thaumatomerope with three described species all from the Madygen Formation in Kyrgyzstan. These insects are also of interest due to their presumed basal position in the order Mecoptera.

References

  • Wills, Allan (2007). "Earwig Flies? Ancient and Mysterious Insects". Western Wildlife 12 (1): 5. 
This Mecoptera related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.