Family † Parasialidae Ponomarenko, 1977

† Parasialidae Ponomarenko, 1977: 79 [type genus: † Parasialis Ponomarenko, 1977: 80]. — Engel 2004: 119. — Engel & Grimaldi 2008: 8. — Shcherbakov 2013: 49. — Engel et al. 2018: 535.

Taxonomic notes

Ponomarenko (1977) described † Parasialidae, which he placed in Megaloptera, based on two extinct genera († Parasialis Ponomarenko, 1977 and † Sojanasialis Ponomarenko, 1977) from the Russian IvaGora beds (Permian: Guadalupian). Parasialids have been treated variously as stem-group megalopterans (e.g., Engel 2004 [who placed them in a new megalopteran suborder, †Archimegaloptera], Grimaldi & Engel 2005), stem-group Raphidioptera + Megaloptera (e.g., Engel & Grimaldi 2008; Shcherbakov 2013), or as stem-group Raphidioptera (e.g., Engel et al. 2018). Here, we follow the latter interpretation, treating the family in Raphidioptera, although the true affinities of † Parasialidae remain uncertain.