Hangingfly Insect Fossil from Yixian Formation

Liaoning Province in northeast China has remained one of the hottest paleontology study sites on earth the past two decades. Liaoning is perhaps most famous for discoveries of feathered dinosaurs. From feathered dinosaurs to birds to reptiles with color patterns, the fine lake silts of Liaoning's Yixian Formation often preserved the most intricate details of life from more than 100 million years ago. Relatively hard to preserve insects are well represented in the diverse Liaoning biota.

Insect order Mecoptera, the scorpionflies, arose during Permian time. The Bittacidae are a family of the scorpionflies commonly called Hangingflies or hanging scorpionflies. The Mecopterans are particularly important in insect evolution. Currently, insect orders Lepidoptera and Diptera, and Trichoptera are believed to have descended from ancestors the Mecoptera.