Palaeontinidae

Palaeontinidae
Temporal range: Late Triassic-Early Cretaceous Norian–Aptian
Gallery of various palaeontinids
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hemiptera
Suborder: Auchenorrhyncha
Infraorder: Cicadomorpha
Superfamily: Palaeontinoidea
Family: Palaeontinidae
Handlirsch, 1906
Type genus
Palaeontina
Butler, 1873
Genera

See text

Synonyms

CicadomorphidaeEvans, 1956

Palaeontinidae, commonly known as giant cicadas, is an extinct family of cicadomorphs. They existed from the Late Triassic to the Early Cretaceous. The family contains around 30 to 40 genera and around a hundred species.[1] They are thought to have had a similar ecology to modern cicadas as feeders on plant xylem fluids. Despite being described as "giant cicadas"(with the wingspan of some species exceeding 15 centimetres (5.9 in)[2]),[3] they are not particularly closely related to true cicadas.[4]

  1. ^ "Family Palaeontinidae". The EDNA Fossil Insect Database. Retrieved July 16, 2011.
  2. ^ "Ancient Giant Cicadas Reveal an Aerial Evolutionary Arms Race----Chinese Academy of Sciences". english.cas.cn. Retrieved 2024-11-13.
  3. ^ Xu, Chunpeng; Chen, Jun; Muijres, Florian T.; Yu, Yilun; Jarzembowski, Edmund A.; Zhang, Haichun; Wang, Bo (2024-10-25). "Enhanced flight performance and adaptive evolution of Mesozoic giant cicadas". Science Advances. 10 (43). doi:10.1126/sciadv.adr2201. ISSN 2375-2548. PMC 11506159. PMID 39454006.
  4. ^ Szwedo, Jacek (June 2016). "The unity, diversity and conformity of bugs (Hemiptera) through time". Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 107 (2–3): 109–128. doi:10.1017/S175569101700038X. ISSN 1755-6910.