Eomeropidae

Definition

A family of scorpionflies (order Mecoptera) characterized by a dorsoventrally flattened body plan and relict distribution. The family contains a single extant species, Notiothauma reedi, a flightless insect restricted to Nothofagus forests in southern Chile, while all other recognized genera are known only from fossils ranging from the Early Jurassic (Liassic) through the Paleogene. Eomeropidae represents one of the most phylogenetically basal lineages within Mecoptera and is often placed in its own subfamily Eomeropinae or treated as the sister group to all other living scorpionflies.

Etymology

From Greek eos (dawn, early) + Merope (one of the Pleiades, and the type genus of scorpionflies) + -idae (family suffix), referring to its status as an early-diverging scorpionfly lineage.

Example

Notiothauma reedi, the sole living representative of Eomeropidae, is a wingless, flattened insect that lives in leaf litter and rotting logs in the Valdivian temperate rainforests of Chile, representing a remarkable case of morphological and ecological stasis since the Mesozoic.

Related Terms

• Mecoptera
• Notiothauma
• scorpionfly
• relict species
• Nothofagus
• Eomeropinae
• Meropeidae
• Bittacidae
• Panorpidae
• fossil insect
• living fossil

Usage Notes

The family is sometimes treated as containing only the extant genus Notiothauma, with fossil genera assigned to separate families or left as incertae sedis within Eomeropidae depending on classification scheme. The flightless condition and flattened body of the living species are considered derived adaptations to ground-dwelling in cool, wet forest habitats, not ancestral traits for the family.