Notiothauma

Notiothauma is the sole living genus in the scorpionfly family Eomeropidae. The genus is monotypic with a lone species Notiothauma reedi which is native to the Valdivian temperate rain forests of central Chile, especially the forests with Nothofagus stands. N. reedi is flattened with a notedly cockroach-like in appearance. They are nocturnal and inhabit the forest floor where the adults feed on plants and decaying animals.[1] The larvae are still unknown. Because this is the last extant species of Eomeropidae, N. reedi can be characterized as a living fossil taxon.[2]

Notiothauma
Notiothauma reedi
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Mecoptera
Family: Eomeropidae
Genus: Notiothauma
MacLachlan, 1877
Species:
N. reedi
Binomial name
Notiothauma reedi
MacLachlan, 1877


Phylogeny

The proposed phylogenetic relationships of N. reedi based on Soszyńska-Maj et al 2016.[3]

 
Eomeropidae
 
 

Jurachorista

 
 

Jurathauma

 
 
 
 
 

Eomerope

 
 
 
 

Tsuschingothauma

 
 
 

Notiothauma

 
 

Typhothauma

 
 
 
 
 
 

References
  1. Ortloff, A.; Albornoz, S.; Romero, M.; Vivallo, G. (2016). "Skin artefacts due to post-mortem damage caused by Notiothauma reedi: A insect of forensic importance in forest communities of Chile". Egyptian Journal of Forensic Sciences. 6 (4): 411–415. doi:10.1016/j.ejfs.2016.06.006.
  2. Archibald, S. B.; Rasnitsyn, A. P.; Akhmetiev, M. A. (200). "Ecology and distribution of Cenozoic Eomeropidae (Mecoptera), and a new species of Eomerope Cockerell from the Early Eocene McAbee locality, British Columbia, Canada". Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 98 (45): 503–514.
  3. Soszyńska-Maj, A.; Krzemiński, W.; Kopeć, K.; Coram, R. A. (2016). "Phylogenetic relationships within the relict family Eomeropidae (Insecta, Mecoptera) based on the oldest fossil from the Early Jurassic (Sinemurian) of Dorset, southern England". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 14 (12): 1025–1031. doi:10.1080/14772019.2016.1139007. ISSN 1477-2019.


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