Alienopteridae is an extinct family of , known from the Early Cretaceous to the Eocene epoch. They are noted for their unusual combination of features not found in other dictyopterans.
Description
Alienopterid nymphs vary in morphology, some are superficially ant-like, while others are more robust. In adult alienopterids, the first set of wings are reduced into shortened
Sclerotin scale-like structures. The compound eyes are large, and the head generally triangular shaped and able to rotate.
Taxonomy
It was originally assigned to its own order
Alienoptera by Bai et al., 2016. It was reassigned to the dictyopteran superfamily
Umenocoleoidea as sister family to the beetle-like
Umenocoleidae by Vršanský
et al. (2018),
and a more recent analysis similarly places Alienopteridae and
Umenocoleidae as sister taxa within
Dictyoptera, but placing both lineages outside of
Blattodea.
A 2021 study revived the order Alienoptera for the clade containing Alienopteridae and Umenocoleidae, with a cladistic analysis placing Alienoptera as the sister clade to
Mantodea (praying mantises).
Distribution
The majority of the alienopterid genera are known from the mid
Cretaceous (latest
Albian-earliest
Cenomanian ~ 100 million years ago)
Burmese amber found in
Myanmar;
though an additional two genera (
Apiblatta and
Vcelesvab) are from the late
Aptian Crato Formation (
Brazil), and the two youngest genera (
Chimaeroblattina and
Grant) are from the middle
Eocene Green River Formation (
Colorado,
United States).
Ecology
In a 2018 paper, some alienopterid adults were suggested as
Mimicry of various
, including
and
.
However this was mostly rejected in another study as lacking evidence.
A 2021 study alternatively suggested that some alienopterid nymphs functioned as ant mimics, based on morphological features that closely resembled contemporary
Sphecomyrminae ants, and suggested that the adult genus
Teyia was also a wasp mimic, though mimicry in other adult alienopterids was rejected. One alienopterid nymph was found laden with
gymnosperm pollen (probably from a
cycad or a
Bennettitales), suggesting that it consumed pollen as part of its diet, and that it also acted as a
pollinator.
Alienopterid adults have been suggested to be predators adapted to moving through dense foliage,
with the small
Sclerotin forewings being an adaptation for flight capability.
Genera
-
Superfamily †Umenocoleoidea Chen & Tan, 1973
-
Family †Alienopteridae Bai et al., 2016
An undescribed species is also known from the
Turonian aged Orapa
kimberlite pipe sediments in
Botswana.
Luo, Xu & Jarzembowski (2020) transferred
Alienopterix and
Vzrkadlenies, originally described as alienopterids, to the family
Cratovitismidae.
A 2021 study later considered
Alienopterix an umenocoleid instead.
