Explore this animal in Size of Extinct Animals ↗
510 / Paleozoic
Brodioptera
Brodioptera stricklani
Long transparent net-veined wings record an early radiation of large flying insects.
View original image · 1600 × 1067- Time range
- About 318–311 million years ago
- Final stage
- Late Carboniferous
- Geographic range
- Airspace above coal-swamp channels · North America
01 / DEFINITION & ECOLOGY
What was Brodioptera?
Brodioptera (Brodioptera stricklani) was an extinct organism known from About 318–311 million years ago, with a range in Airspace above coal-swamp channels · North America.
Life and ecology
It probably glided above wetlands and caught smaller arthropods near breeding water.
02 / DISAPPEARANCE
Why did Brodioptera disappear?
Its record ends about 311 million years ago, well before the close of the Carboniferous; later climate and oxygen change cannot explain its disappearance, and the cause is not established.
03 / EVIDENCE
How do scientists know about Brodioptera?
An isolated but complete wing preserves diagnostic venation; body and ecology remain cautious inference.
04 / SOURCES & FURTHER READING
Check the source record
Use the scientific name to compare taxonomy, occurrence records and the fossil record. Database coverage and classifications may differ.
05 / REVISION HISTORY
How has this record changed?
- Rewrote an extinction cause that presented environmental or faunal turnover as established; it is now given as context the record does not prove.
- Verified authoritative entity sources and added three responsive reconstruction sizes.
- Initial bilingual species record published.
06 / CORRECTIONS & ADDITIONS