Plecoptera

Plecoptera is an order of insects commonly known as stoneflies. Some 3,500 species are described worldwide, with new species still being discovered. Stoneflies are found worldwide, except Antarctica. Stoneflies are believed to be one of the most primitive groups of Neoptera, with close relatives identified from the Carboniferous and Lower Permian geological periods, while true stoneflies are known from fossils only a bit younger. Their modern diversity, however, apparently is of Mesozoic origin.

Plecoptera

JJ Harrison ( https://www.jjharrison.com.au/ ) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
Also called
stoneflyPBDB
Sits inside
PlecopteridaPBDB
Diet
detritivore, omnivorePBDB
Life habit
volant, solitaryPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB
Vision
well-developedPBDB
Environment
freshwater,terrestrialPBDB

Time the record covers

At least 279 million years on record.

The record covers at least 283.3 Mya to 3.6 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 290.1 Mya to 2.58 Mya.

Permian — about 112 of 477 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 0 of 477 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 40 of 477 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 24 of 477 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 43 of 477 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 22 of 477 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 88 of 477 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 59 of 477 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 40 of 477 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 477 occurrencesEocene — about 38 of 477 occurrencesOligocene — about 2 of 477 occurrencesMiocene — about 7 of 477 occurrencesPliocene — about 2 of 477 occurrencesPleistocene — about 0 of 477 occurrences296–286 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences286–276 Mya — about 16 occurrences276–266 Mya — about 24 occurrences266–256 Mya — about 45 occurrences256–247 Mya — about 27 occurrences247–237 Mya — about 40 occurrences237–227 Mya — about 7 occurrences227–217 Mya — about 8 occurrences217–207 Mya — about 8 occurrences207–197 Mya — about 3 occurrences197–187 Mya — about 7 occurrences187–178 Mya — about 25 occurrences178–168 Mya — about 15 occurrences168–158 Mya — about 39 occurrences158–148 Mya — about 39 occurrences148–138 Mya — about 28 occurrences138–128 Mya — about 10 occurrences128–118 Mya — about 32 occurrences118–108 Mya — about 13 occurrences108–99 Mya — about 11 occurrences99–89 Mya — about 29 occurrences49–39 Mya — about 3 occurrences39–30 Mya — about 35 occurrences30–20 Mya — about 2 occurrences20–9.9 Mya — about 5 occurrences9.9–0 Mya — about 4 occurrences283.3 Mya3.6 Mya296 Mya0 Mya

477 occurrences of Plecoptera on record, most of them in the Permian. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. 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

477 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

82 formations

Madygen — 40.03°N, 70.25°EMadygen — 40.05°N, 70.21°EMadygen — 40.00°N, 70.20°EPoldarsa — 60.61°N, 45.62°EDaohugou — 41.32°N, 119.24°EIchetuy — 51.27°N, 108.60°EIchetuy — 51.27°N, 108.10°EIchetuy — 51.28°N, 108.27°EIchetuy — 50.64°N, 105.43°EIchetuy — 51.80°N, 108.29°EIchetuy — 52.00°N, 108.00°EIchetuy — 51.72°N, 108.28°EIchetuy — 50.78°N, 105.53°EKoshelevka — 57.03°N, 57.73°EKoshelevka — 57.78°N, 57.84°EMitina — 53.55°N, 87.25°EGlushkovo — 51.92°N, 117.62°EGlushkovo — 51.82°N, 117.17°EGlushkovo — 51.71°N, 116.93°EGlushkovo — 53.74°N, 102.56°EGlushkovo — 51.86°N, 117.45°EGlushkovo — 51.74°N, 117.36°EKhaya — 62.16°N, 118.60°EDoronino — 51.99°N, 113.24°EKarabastau — 42.90°N, 70.00°ESharteg — 44.14°N, 95.78°ESagul — 39.98°N, 70.43°ESagul — 39.96°N, 70.68°ECheremkhovskaya — 54.17°N, 100.31°ETologoi — 47.50°N, 85.20°EHaifanggou — 41.85°N, 120.79°ESulyukta — 40.03°N, 70.50°EAbasheva — 54.50°N, 87.53°EUlaan-Ereg — 45.59°N, 107.79°EPotrerillos — 33.08°S, 69.11°WEstcourt — 29.80°S, 29.79°EEstcourt — 29.00°S, 29.83°EEstcourt — 29.50°S, 30.17°EYixian — 41.62°N, 120.83°EYixian — 41.19°N, 119.21°EUda — 52.37°N, 111.25°EUda — 52.35°N, 109.20°EGurvan-Eren — 46.38°N, 93.95°EGurvan-Eren — 48.07°N, 91.65°EGurvan-Eren — 48.45°N, 92.27°EDzhil — 42.70°N, 77.20°E

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The named rock units Plecoptera has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 58 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 137 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Plecoptera and its relatives

Permian

Where Plecoptera and its relatives were recorded in the Permian.

Found in the same rock

6,812 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 222 sites for Plecoptera, and this reads all of them. Of that, one read hit the database's own return limit, so every count below is a floor rather than a total. 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

124 references

Each of the 477 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. 112 further references are not listed. 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 Plecoptera

Credit
JJ Harrison ( https://www.jjharrison.com.au/ )
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Plecoptera was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was 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 itPlecopterida through timeFormations of the PermianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Burmeister 1839