A couple Green River Fm. Insects

[Mochaccino]

Hello,

 

I am looking for confirmation and if possible specific identification of these two insects I have from the Eocene-aged Green River Fm. of Colorado.

 

1. Labeled as "Mosquito"

 

2. Labeled as "Mantis"

[Opabinia Blues]

The up-close photos are fairly low resolution which makes identification very difficult, but I will do my best to weigh in:

 

The first is probably a mosquito, as it appears not to have plumose antennae (although these may just not be preserved or not visible in the photo). To really be confident though you'd need to look at characters on the wings, and unfortunately it doesn't look like those preserved well (if at all) on your specimen.

 

The second looks more like a mantidfly (order Neuroptera, family Mantispidae) than a mantis because the wings appear to be held over the abdomen rather than flat against it. However, take this with a grain of salt as well for the reason stated in the very first sentence of my comment.

 

Here's a mantidfly for reference (image via Wikimedia):

[Mochaccino]

11 hours ago, Opabinia Blues said:

The up-close photos are fairly low resolution which makes identification very difficult, but I will do my best to weigh in:

 

The first is probably a mosquito, as it appears not to have plumose antennae (although these may just not be preserved or not visible in the photo). To really be confident though you'd need to look at characters on the wings, and unfortunately it doesn't look like those preserved well (if at all) on your specimen.

 

The second looks more like a mantidfly (order Neuroptera, family Mantispidae) than a mantis because the wings appear to be held over the abdomen rather than flat against it. However, take this with a grain of salt as well for the reason stated in the very first sentence of my comment.

 

Here's a mantidfly for reference (image via Wikimedia):

 

Thanks! I didn't even consider mantisfly but that's reasonable too. The IDs for these specimens were written on the back of the rock by the previous owner who had a TON of green river stuff, so I thought that gave some confidence in them, but it's so hard to tell with this preservation and photography. Unfortunately this is the best I can do with my phone, but perhaps I will find a microscope I can use to get better magnification.

Edited December 3, 2023 by Mochaccino