Editing Mecoptera (section)

===Fossil history===

Among the earliest members of the Mecoptera are the [[Nannochoristidae]] of [[Upper Permian]] age. Fossil Mecoptera become abundant and diverse during the [[Cretaceous]], for example in China,<ref name="MartillBechly2007">{{cite book |last1=Martill|first1=David M. |last2=Bechly |first2=Günter |last3=Loveridge |first3=Robert F. |title=The Crato Fossil Beds of Brazil: Window into an Ancient World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5ZBh_-QvX2MC&pg=PA367 |year=2007 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-46776-6 |pages=367–369}}</ref> where panorpids such as ''Jurassipanorpa'', hangingflies (Bittacidae and Cimbrophlebiidae), Orthophlebiidae, and Cimbrophlebiidae have been found.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Wang |first1=Chen |last2=Shih |first2=Chungkun|last3=Ren|first3=Dong |title=A New Fossil Hangingfly (Mecoptera: Cimbrophlebiidae) from the Early Cretaceous of China |journal=Acta Geologica Sinica - English Edition |date=2014 |volume=88 |issue=1 |pages=29–34 |doi=10.1111/1755-6724.12180|bibcode=2014AcGlS..88...29W |s2cid=129796533 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ding |first1=He|last2=Shih |first2=Chungkun |last3=Bashkuev |first3=Alexei |last4=Zhao |first4=Yunyun |last5=Ren |first5=Dong |title=The earliest fossil record of Panorpidae (Mecoptera) from the Middle Jurassic of China |journal=ZooKeys |date=2014 |issue=431|pages=79–92 |doi=10.3897/zookeys.431.7561|pmid=25152669|pmc=4141175|doi-access=free|bibcode=2014ZooK..431...79D }}</ref>

Extinct Mecoptera species may have been important pollinators of early [[gymnosperm]] seed plants during the late [[Middle Jurassic]] to mid–[[Early Cretaceous]] periods before other pollinating groups such as the bees evolved. These were mainly wind-pollinated plants, but fossil mecopterans had siphon-feeding apparatus that could have fertilized these early gymnosperms by feeding on their [[nectar]] and [[pollen]]. The lack of iron enrichment in their fossilized [[probosces]] rules out their use for drinking blood. Eleven species have been identified from three families, [[Mesopsychidae]], [[Aneuretopsychidae]], and [[Pseudopolycentropodidae]] within the clade [[Aneuretopsychina]]. Their lengths range from {{convert|3|mm|in|abbr=on}} in ''Parapolycentropus burmiticus'' to {{convert|28|mm|in|abbr=on}} in ''Lichnomesopsyche gloriae''. The proboscis could be as long as {{convert|10|mm|in|abbr=on}}. It has been suggested that these mecopterans transferred pollen on their mouthparts and head surfaces, as do [[bee flies]] and [[hoverflies]] today, but no such associated pollen has been found, even when the insects were finely preserved in [[Eocene]] [[Baltic amber]]. They likely pollinated plants such as [[Caytoniaceae]], [[Cheirolepidiaceae]], and [[Gnetales]], which have ovulate organs that are either poorly suited for wind pollination or have structures that could support long-proboscid fluid feeding.<ref name="Ollerton">{{cite journal | last1 = Ollerton | first1 = J. | last2 = Coulthard | first2 = E. | year = 2009 | title = Evolution of Animal Pollination | journal = Science | volume = 326 | issue = 5954| pages = 808–809 | doi = 10.1126/science.1181154 | pmid = 19892970 | bibcode = 2009Sci...326..808O | s2cid = 856038 }}</ref><ref name="Ren">{{cite journal | last1 = Ren | first1 = D. | last2 = Labandeira | first2 = C.C. | last3 = Santiago-Blay | first3 = J.A. | last4 = Rasnitsyn | first4 = A. | last5 = Shih | first5 = C.K. | last6 = Bashkuev | first6 = A. | last7 = Logan | first7 = M.A. | last8 = Hotton | first8 = C.L. | last9 = Dilcher | first9 = D. | year = 2009 | title = Probable Pollination Mode Before Angiosperms: Eurasian, Long-Proboscid Scorpionflies | journal = Science | volume = 326 | issue = 5954| pages = 840–847 | doi = 10.1126/science.1178338 | pmid = 19892981 | pmc = 2944650 | bibcode = 2009Sci...326..840R }}</ref>  The Aneuretopsychina were the most diverse group of mecopterans in the Latest Permian, taking the place of the [[Permochoristidae]], to the [[Middle Triassic]].  During the [[Late Triassic]] through the [[Middle Jurassic]], Aneuretopsychina species were gradually replaced by species from the [[Parachoristidae]] and Orthophlebiidae.  Modern mecopteran families are derived from the Orthophlebiidae.<ref name="Bashkuev2011b">{{Cite book |last1=Bashkuev |first1=A. S. |year=2011 |chapter=The earliest Mesopsychidae and revision of the family Mesopanorpodidae (Mecoptera)|title=Advances in the Systematics of Fossil and Modern Insects: Honouring Alexandr Rasnitsyn |series=ZooKeys 130 |pages=263–279|isbn=978-954-642-609-3 |doi=10.3897/zookeys.130.1611|pmid=22259282 |pmc=3260765 |doi-access=free|publisher=PenSoft|editor-last1=Shcherbakov|editor-first1=D.|editor-last2=Engel|editor-first2=M.|editor-last3=Sharkey|editor-first3=M.}}</ref>

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File:Juracimbrophlebia ginkgofolia.jpg|''[[Juracimbrophlebia ginkgofolia]]'' ([[Cimbrophlebiidae]]) reconstruction, Jurassic; China
File:Jurassipanorpa sticta holotype.jpg|''[[Jurassipanorpa|Jurassipanorpa sticta]]'' ([[Panorpidae]]), Jurassic; China
File:Dinokanaga andersoni holotype SR 01-06-01.jpg|Forewing of ''[[Dinokanaga andersoni]]'' ([[Dinopanorpidae]]), [[Eocene]]; Washington state <!--File:Cimbrophlebia brooksi Holotype SR 06-20-05 B.jpg|''[[Cimbrophlebia|Cimbrophlebia brooksi]]'' ([[Cimbrophlebiidae]]), Eocene; Washington state--> <!--File:Eorpa elverumi SRUI 08-07-07 A Holotype.JPG|Forewing of ''[[Eorpa elverumi]]'' ([[Eorpidae]]), Eocene; Washington State--> 
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