🦋 Jurassic “Butterflies”? Meet the Kalligrammatidae!

A long time ago—before real butterflies flitted through flowers—there were strange and beautiful insects called Kalligrammatidae. These ancient bugs lived during the time of the dinosaurs, and they looked a lot like butterflies… but they weren’t!

🌿 So What Were They?

Kalligrammatidae were part of the lacewing family, like distant cousins of bugs we see today. They had enormous, colorful wings with fancy patterns and long straws for mouths, which they used to sip sweet plant juices. That’s right—they were some of the first pollinators, helping plants grow by moving pollen around!

🧬 Why Do People Call Them “Butterflies of the Jurassic”?

Because they looked like butterflies! Their wings had eye spots like some butterflies today to scare off hungry predators. But here’s the twist: butterflies didn’t even exist yet. These lacewings just evolved similar features all on their own. Scientists call that convergent evolution—when different creatures end up looking alike.

🪲 Their Modern Cousin: The Green Lacewing!

We still have lacewings—like the Green Lacewing (Chrysoperla carnea).

• 🟢 It’s bright green with shiny golden eyes.
  
• 🪰 Its babies love eating garden pests like aphids (called “aphid lions” for a reason!).
  
• 🌱 Farmers and gardeners love them because they’re natural pest control—tiny superheroes for your plants!
  

So next time you see a fluttery bug in your garden, you might be looking at a modern-day cousin of a Jurassic pollinator!

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Want to see what the ancient Kalligrammatidae looked like? Check out this fantastic fossil illustration:

Yang Q., Wang Y., Labandeira C. C., Shih C., Ren D. (2014). “Mesozoic lacewings from China provide phylogenetic insight into the evolution of the Kalligrammatidae (Neuroptera)”. BMC Evolutionary Biology 14 (1): 126. DOI:10.1186/1471-2148-14-126.