Dipteromantispidae

Dipteromantispidae is an extinct family of neuropterans known from the Cretaceous period. Unlike other neuropterans, the family possesses only a single set of fully developed forewings, with the hindwings reduced to haltere-like structures. They are generally small in size and possess raptorial forelegs. They are considered to belong to Mantispoidea, with an uncertain position within the clade. Some authors have suggested that they represent a subgroup of Mantispidae, and should instead be referred to as the subfamily Dipteromantispinae within that family.

Dipteromantispidae

Liu, Lu, & Zhang, 2016 · CC0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
NeuropteraPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Arthropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Insecta

Time the record covers

At least 27 million years on record.

The record covers at least 121.4 Mya to 93.9 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 125.77 Mya to 89.8 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 1 of 14 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 13 of 14 occurrencesLate Cretaceous126–125 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences125–124 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences124–123 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences123–122 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences122–120 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences102–100 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences100–99 Mya — about 2 occurrences99–98 Mya — about 2 occurrences98–97 Mya — about 2 occurrences97–95 Mya — about 2 occurrences95–94 Mya — about 2 occurrences94–93 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences93–92 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences92–90 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences90–89 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences121.4 Mya93.9 Mya126.5 Mya89.1 Mya

14 occurrences of Dipteromantispidae on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

14 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

2 formations

Raritan — 40.47°N, 74.32°WYixian — 41.62°N, 120.83°E

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The named rock units Dipteromantispidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 11 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Dipteromantispidae and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Dipteromantispidae and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

998 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 7 sites for Dipteromantispidae, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

7 references

Each of the 14 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Dipteromantispidae

Credit
Liu, Lu, & Zhang, 2016
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Dipteromantispidae was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itNeuroptera through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Makarkin et al. 2013