Explore this animal in Size of Extinct Animals ↗
396 / Mesozoic
Mickoleitia
Mickoleitia longimanus
Raptorial forelegs and three tail filaments formed a lost mayfly body plan.
View original image · 1600 × 1067- Time range
- About 115 million years ago
- Final stage
- Early Cretaceous
- Geographic range
- Freshwater lagoon margins · Brazil
01 / DEFINITION & ECOLOGY
What was Mickoleitia?
Mickoleitia (Mickoleitia longimanus) was an extinct organism known from About 115 million years ago, with a range in Freshwater lagoon margins · Brazil.
Life and ecology
Adults may have caught insects near water while predatory nymphs used grasping limbs below.
02 / DISAPPEARANCE
Why did Mickoleitia disappear?
Cretaceous freshwater turnover is possible context for the end of its order; a specific cause is not established.
03 / EVIDENCE
How do scientists know about Mickoleitia?
Crato fossils preserve adults and nymphs, linking forelegs, wings and tails across life stages.
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