Alienopteridae

Alienopteridae Temporal range: Early Cretaceous-Eocene,
Aethiocarenus, a presumed alienopteran nymph
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Superfamily:	†Umenocoleoidea
Family:	†Alienopteridae Bai et al, 2016
Type genus
†Alienopterus Bai et al, 2016
Genera
†Aethiocarenus †Alienopterella †Alienopterix †Alienopterus †Apiblatta †Caputoraptor †Chimaeroblattina †Formicamendax †Grant †Meilia †Teyia †Vcelesvab †Vzrkadlenie
Synonyms
Aethiocarenidae

Alienopteridae is an extinct family of dictyopterans, known from the Mid-Cretaceous to Eocene. It was originally assigned to its own order Alienoptera by Bai et al, 2016. It was subsequently reassigned to cockroach superfamily Umenocoleoidea sister family to Umenocoleidae by Vršanský et al. (2018). The majority of the alienopterid genera are known from the Cenomanian aged Burmese amber found in Myanmar; though an additional two genera (Apiblatta and Vcelesvab) are from the Albian Crato Formation (Brazil), and a younger two genera (Chimaeroblattina and Grant) are from the middle Eocene Green River Formation (Colorado, United States). Some taxa are have been suggested mimics of various hymenopterans, including bees and ants. However this was mostly rejected in another study. Some taxa were probably predators adapted to moving through dense foliage.

Genera

• Superfamily †Umenocoleoidea Chen & Tan, 1973
  • Family †Alienopteridae Bai et al., 2016
    • †Aethiocarenus Poinar & Brown, 2016
    • †Alienopterella Kočárek, 2018
    • †Alienopterix Mlynský et al.' 2018
    • †Alienopterus Bai et al. 2016
    • †Apiblatta Barna & Bigalk, 2018
    • †Caputoraptor Bai et al., 2018
    • †Chimaeroblattina Barna, 2018
    • †Formicamendax Hinkelman, 2019
    • †Grant Aristov, 2018
    • †Meilia Vršanský & Wang, 2018
    • †Teyia Vršanský et al., 2018