中国科学院南京地质古生物研究所机构知识库

Megaloptera is a small order of insects that is very rare in the fossil record. Jurochauliodes ponomarenkoi n. gen. n. sp. belonging to Chauliodinae (fishflies) within Corydalidae is described based on three larvae preserved in tuffaceous siltstones from the Middle Jurassic of Daohugou, China. It is not only the first fossil Megaloptera from China, but also the earliest Corydalidae. It differs from Cretochaulus lacustris Ponomarenko, 1976 in having a large body, head much longer than mandibles, mandibles wide, with a small apical tooth, meso- and metathorax half as long as prothorax, profemora apically widened, abdominal segment IX short, and lateral gills shorter than hind legs. This discovery indicates that fishflies originated at least in the Middle Jurassic.