Explore this animal in Size of Extinct Animals ↗
555 / Paleozoic
Palaeodictyoptera
Palaeodictyoptera
Two pairs of net-veined wings could not fold, and some species carried thoracic winglets and piercing mouthparts.
View original image · 1600 × 1067- Time range
- About 318–252 million years ago
- Final stage
- End of the Permian
- Geographic range
- Coal forests and seasonal woodland · Widespread
01 / DEFINITION & ECOLOGY
What was Palaeodictyoptera?
Palaeodictyoptera (Palaeodictyoptera) was an extinct organism known from About 318–252 million years ago, with a range in Coal forests and seasonal woodland · Widespread.
Life and ecology
They flew among lycopsid and seed-fern crowns and probably pierced plant tissues or ate spores.
02 / DISAPPEARANCE
Why did Palaeodictyoptera disappear?
The order has no record after the end-Permian crisis and its vegetation collapse; how directly that crisis caused its extinction is not established.
03 / EVIDENCE
How do scientists know about Palaeodictyoptera?
Wings, mouthparts and body impressions document diversity; color, speed and exact diets remain inferred.
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