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Meganeuropsis ✝

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Meganeuropsis sp.

North America Plate

Meganeuropsis sp.

North America Plate

Meganeuropsis sp.

North America Plate

Description

Meganeuropsis is an extinct genus of griffinfly, order Meganisoptera, known from the Early Permian of North America, and represents the biggest known insect of all time. Meganeuropsis existed during the Artinskian age of the Permian period, 283.5–290.1 mya . The genus includes two described species:

From Wikipedia article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meganeuropsis, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.

Source Data

Source	ID	Link
Global Biodiversity Information Facility ID (GBIF)	4682605	https://www.gbif.org/species/4682605
PaleoBioDB ID (PBDB)	176627	https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=176627

Rank

genus

Taxonomy (GBIF,PBDB)

Life : Animalia : Arthropoda : Insecta : Meganisoptera : Meganeuridae : Meganeuropsis

Taxonomic Status (GBIF)

accepted

Classification
(PBDB,GBIF)

Rank	Name	Author
-	Eukaryota
-	Opisthokonta	Cavalier-Smith 1987
kingdom	Animalia
-	Bilateria
-	Eubilateria	Ax 1987
-	Protostomia	Grobben 1908
-	Ecdysozoa
-	Panarthropoda
phylum	Arthropoda	Latreille 1829
subphylum	Mandibulata
-	Pancrustacea
superclass	Hexapoda	Latreille 1825
-	Cercofilata	Kukalová-Peck 1987
class	Insecta	Linnaeus 1758
-	Dicondylia
-	Paranotalia	Sroka et al. 2014
subclass	Pterygota	Brauer 1885
infraclass	Hydropalaeoptera	Rohdendorf 1969
-	Euhydropalaeoptera	Sroka et al. 2014
-	Odonatoptera	Martynov 1932
-	Palaeodonatoptera	Petrulevicius and Gutiérrez 2016
-	Plesiodonatoptera	Petrulevicius and Gutiérrez 2016
-	Apodonatoptera	Petrulevicius and Gutiérrez 2016
-	Paneodonatoptera	Nel et al. 2019
-	Neodonatoptera	Bechly 1996
order	Meganisoptera	Martynov 1932
family	Meganeuridae	Handlirsch 1906
subfamily	Meganeurinae	Handlirsch 1906
genus	Meganeuropsis	Carpenter 1939

Scientific Name

Meganeuropsis Carpenter, 1939

Name Published In

Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts Sci., 73

Opinions (PBDB)

Name	Rank	Opinion	Evidence	Author
Meganeuropsis	genus	belongs to Meganeurinae	stated with evidence	Carpenter, 1947
Meganeuropsis	genus	belongs to Meganeuridae	stated with evidence	Carpenter, 1992
Meganeuropsis	genus	belongs to Meganeurinae	stated with evidence	Engel, 1998

Status (PBDB)

extinct

Taxon Size (PBDB)

First Recorded Appearance

290 - 279 Ma
Permian

Last Recorded Appearance

290 - 279 Ma
Permian

Environment

terrestrial (based on Insecta)

Motility

actively mobile (based on Arthropoda)

Taphonomy

chitin (based on Insecta)

Primary Reference (PBDB)

F. M. Carpenter. 1939. The Lower Permian Insects of Kansas. Part 8: Additional Megasecoptera, Protodonata, Odonata, Homoptera, Psocoptera, Protelytroptera, Plectoptera and Protoperlaria. Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 73(3):29-70

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meganeuropsis

Fossil Distribution

Subtaxa

Name	Status	Common Name(s)	Fossil Occurrences	Oldest	Youngest
Meganeuropsis americana ✝ species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)		3	290 Ma Permian	290 Ma Permian
Meganeuropsis permiana ✝ species	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)		1	290 Ma Permian	290 Ma Permian

Synonymy List

Year	Name and Author
1939	Meganeuropsis Carpenter p. 39
1947	Meganeuropsis Carpenter p. 46
1983	Meganeuropsis Zessin
1989	Meganeuropsis Brauckmann and Zessin p. 182
1992	Meganeuropsis Carpenter p. 60
1998	Meganeuropsis Engel
2009	Meganeuropsis Nel et al. p. 96

References

Carpenter F. M. (1939) The Lower Permian Insects of Kansas. Part 8: Additional Megasecoptera, Protodonata, Odonata, Homoptera, Psocoptera, Protelytroptera, Plectoptera and Protoperlaria, Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 73 3, 29-70

Carpenter F. M. (1947) Lower Permian Insects from Oklahoma. Part 1. Introduction and the Orders Megasecoptera, Protodonata, and Odonata, Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 76, 25-54

Zessin W. (1983) Zur Taxonomie der jungpaläozoischen Familie Meganeuridae (Odonata) unter Einbeziehung eines Neufundes aus dem Stefan C der Halleschen Mulde (DDR), Freiberger Forschungshefte C 384, 58-76

Brauckmann C., Zessin W. (1989) Neue Meganeuridae aus dem Namurium von Hagen-Vorhalle (BRD) und die Phylogenie der Meganisoptera, Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 36 1-3, 177-215

Carpenter F. M. (1992) , Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology Part R, Arthropoda 4: Superclass Hexapoda 3/4, 1-655

Engel M. S. (1998) Megatypus parvus spec. nov., a new giant dragonfly from the Lower Permian of Kansas (Protodonata: Meganeuridae), Odonatologica 27 3, 361-364

Nel A., Fleck G., et al (2009) Revision of Permo-Carboniferous griffenflies (Insecta: Odonatoptera: Meganisoptera) based upon new species and redescription of selected poorly known taxa from Eurasia, Palaeontographica Abteilung A 289 4-6, 89-121

Nomenclator Zoologicus. A list of the names of genera and subgenera in zoology from the tenth edition of Linnaeus, 1758 to the end of 2004. Digitised by uBio from vols. 1-9 of Neave (ed.), 1939-1996 plus supplementary digital-only volume. http://ubio.org/NomenclatorZoologicus (as at 2006). - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

as per family - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts Sci., 73 - via The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera

Data courtesy of: PBDB: The Paleobiology Database, Creative Commons CC-BY licenced. , GBIF: the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, various licences, iDigBio, various licences, and EOL: The Encyclopedia of Life (Open Data Public Domain). Because fossils are made of minerals too!

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