Oh my goodness! Unless you are a Tree of Life developer, you really shouldn't be here. This page is part of our beta test site, where we develop new features for the ToL, often messing up a thing or two in the process. Please visit the official version of this page, which is available here.
Temporary Page

Paleodictyopteroideagroup is extinct

Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
taxon links [up-->]Diaphanopterodea [up-->]Permothemistida [up-->]Paleodictyoptera [up-->]Megasecoptera extinct icon extinct icon extinct icon extinct icon Not Monophyletic[down<--]Pterygota Interpreting the tree
close box

This tree diagram shows the relationships between several groups of organisms.

The root of the current tree connects the organisms featured in this tree to their containing group and the rest of the Tree of Life. The basal branching point in the tree represents the ancestor of the other groups in the tree. This ancestor diversified over time into several descendent subgroups, which are represented as internal nodes and terminal taxa to the right.

example of a tree diagram

You can click on the root to travel down the Tree of Life all the way to the root of all Life, and you can click on the names of descendent subgroups to travel up the Tree of Life all the way to individual species.

For more information on ToL tree formatting, please see Interpreting the Tree or Classification. To learn more about phylogenetic trees, please visit our Phylogenetic Biology pages.

close box
Containing group: Pterygota

Characteristics

Palaeodictyopteroid insects share a unique mouthpart morphology. Their clypeus is much enlarged, and they have a distinctive beak formed by five elongate, stiff elements.

Discussion of Phylogenetic Relationships

Like most Paleozoic insects, paleodictyopteroids are known mostly from fossil wings. Due to a scarcity of suitable characters for phylogenetic analysis, the relationships between the subgroups have not been elucidated. Diaphanopterodea, Megasecoptera, and Permothemistida each show distinctive venational patterns and are therefore likely to be monophyletic groups; however, Paleodictyoptera is probably paraphyletic with respect to the other three subgroups (Grimaldi 2001).

Other Names for Paleodictyopteroidea

References

Carpenter, F. M. 1992. Superclass Hexapoda. Volume 3 Part R, Arthropoda 4 of Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology. Boulder, Colorado, Geological Society of America.

Grimaldi, D. 2001. Insect evolutionary history from Handlirsch to Hennig, and beyond. Journal of Paleontology 75:1152-1160.

Kukalová-Peck, J. and C. Braukmann. 1990. Wing folding in pterygote insects, and the oldest Diaphanopterodea from the early Late Carbonferous of West Germany. Canadian Journal of Zoology 68:1104-1111.

Handlirsch, A. 1904. Les Insectes houillers de la Belgique. Memoires du Musée Royal d'Histoire Naturelle de Belgique 3:3-20.

Labandeira, C. C., and J. J. Sepkoski, jr. 1993. Insect diversity in the fossil record. Science 261:310–315.

Title Illustrations
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Scientific Name Breyeria borinensis
Reference From Handlirsch, A. 1904. Les Insectes houillers de la Belgique. Memoires du Musée Royal d'Histoire Naturelle de Belgique 3:3-20.
Specimen Condition Fossil
Body Part fossilized wing
About This Page

All Rights Reserved.

Citing this page:

Tree of Life Web Project. 2002. Paleodictyopteroidea. Version 01 January 2002 (temporary). http://tolweb.org/Paleodictyopteroidea/8264/2002.01.01 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

edit this page
close box

This page is a Tree of Life Branch Page.

Each ToL branch page provides a synopsis of the characteristics of a group of organisms representing a branch of the Tree of Life. The major distinction between a branch and a leaf of the Tree of Life is that each branch can be further subdivided into descendent branches, that is, subgroups representing distinct genetic lineages.

For a more detailed explanation of the different ToL page types, have a look at the Structure of the Tree of Life page.

close box

Paleodictyopteroidea

Page Content

articles & notes

collections

people

Explore Other Groups

random page

  go to the Tree of Life home page
top