Neuroptera

The insect order Neuroptera, from Ancient Greek νεῦρον (neûron), meaning "nerve", and πτερόν (pterón), meaning "wing", also known as net-winged insects, includes the lacewings, mantidflies, antlions, and their relatives. The order consists of some 6,000 species. Neuroptera is grouped together with the Megaloptera and Raphidioptera (snakeflies) in the unranked taxon Neuropterida.

Neuroptera

Alvesgaspar · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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
lacewingPBDB
Sits inside
EidoneuropteraPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Arthropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Insecta

Time the record covers

At least 293 million years on record.

The record covers at least 293.52 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 298.9 Mya to 0 Mya.

Carboniferous — about 0 of 1434 occurrencesPermian — about 8 of 1434 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 1 of 1434 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 8 of 1434 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 34 of 1434 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 120 of 1434 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 78 of 1434 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 243 of 1434 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 335 of 1434 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 281 of 1434 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 1 of 1434 occurrencesEocene — about 245 of 1434 occurrencesOligocene — about 21 of 1434 occurrencesMiocene — about 55 of 1434 occurrencesPliocene — about 2 of 1434 occurrencesPleistocene — about 0 of 1434 occurrences305–295 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences295–285 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences285–274 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences274–264 Mya — about 3 occurrences264–254 Mya — about 1 occurrence254–244 Mya — about 6 occurrences244–234 Mya — about 8 occurrences234–224 Mya — about 9 occurrences224–213 Mya — about 11 occurrences213–203 Mya — about 10 occurrences203–193 Mya — about 6 occurrences193–183 Mya — about 88 occurrences183–173 Mya — about 27 occurrences173–163 Mya — about 62 occurrences163–152 Mya — about 164 occurrences152–142 Mya — about 99 occurrences142–132 Mya — about 19 occurrences132–122 Mya — about 83 occurrences122–112 Mya — about 213 occurrences112–102 Mya — about 14 occurrences102–91 Mya — about 256 occurrences91–81 Mya — about 20 occurrences81–71 Mya — about 7 occurrences71–61 Mya — about 1 occurrence61–51 Mya — about 68 occurrences51–41 Mya — about 49 occurrences41–30 Mya — about 135 occurrences30–20 Mya — about 17 occurrences20–10 Mya — about 50 occurrences10–0 Mya — about 7 occurrences293.52 Mya11.7 ka305 Mya0 Mya

1,434 occurrences of Neuroptera on record, most of them in the Early Cretaceous. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. 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

1,434 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

123 formations

Crato — 7.13°S, 39.70°WDaohugou — 41.32°N, 119.24°EKarabastau — 42.69°N, 70.41°EKarabastau — 42.95°N, 69.92°EKarabastau — 42.90°N, 70.00°EYixian — 41.62°N, 120.83°EYixian — 41.15°N, 117.96°EYixian — 41.53°N, 121.10°EYixian — 41.03°N, 118.92°EYixian — 41.54°N, 118.92°EYixian — 41.95°N, 118.89°EYixian — 41.19°N, 119.21°EYixian — 41.42°N, 118.97°EPosidonia Shale — 52.36°N, 10.59°EPosidonia Shale — 52.36°N, 10.75°EPosidonia Shale — 52.31°N, 10.62°EPosidonia Shale — 52.27°N, 10.68°EJiulongshan — 41.32°N, 119.24°EJiulongshan — 40.89°N, 117.61°EJiulongshan — 40.91°N, 118.32°EFur — 56.89°N, 8.73°EFur — 56.89°N, 8.75°EFur — 56.95°N, 8.88°EFur — 56.92°N, 8.92°EFur — 57.02°N, 8.99°EFur — 56.84°N, 9.00°ESolnhofen — 48.91°N, 11.14°EZaza — 53.30°N, 112.09°EFlorissant — 38.92°N, 105.28°WFlorissant — 38.93°N, 105.24°WFlorissant — 38.55°N, 105.17°WSagul — 39.98°N, 70.43°EKlondike Mountain — 48.66°N, 118.75°WWeald Clay — 52.72°N, 1.44°WWeald Clay — 51.10°N, 0.45°WWeald Clay — 51.13°N, 0.33°WRaritan — 40.47°N, 74.32°WRaritan — 40.43°N, 74.33°WBouldnor — 50.74°N, 1.36°WBlackstone — 27.62°S, 152.75°EGreen River — 41.55°N, 109.51°WGreen River — 39.61°N, 108.10°WGreen River — 39.73°N, 107.98°WGreen River — 39.53°N, 107.95°WGreen River — 39.64°N, 108.76°WGreen River — 41.79°N, 110.75°WDurlston — 50.60°N, 1.95°WSharteg — 44.14°N, 95.78°EWhitby Mudstone — 52.01°N, 1.99°WLulworth — 50.60°N, 1.95°WEscucha — 40.80°N, 0.81°WEscucha — 42.64°N, 2.72°WKheta — 71.31°N, 99.56°EKheta — 72.03°N, 101.33°ELa Huérguina — 40.06°N, 1.88°W

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The named rock units Neuroptera has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 99 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 503 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Neuroptera and its relatives

Early Cretaceous

Where Neuroptera and its relatives were recorded in the Early Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

7,613 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 464 sites for Neuroptera, and this reads 240 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

514 references

Each of the 1,434 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. 502 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 Neuroptera

Credit
Alvesgaspar
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Neuroptera 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 itEidoneuroptera through timeFormations of the Early CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Linnaeus 1758