meropeidae is a family of tiny scorpionflies within the order mecoptera with only three living species, commonly referred to as "earwigflies" (or sometimes "forcepflies"). these include the north american "merope tuber", the western australian "austromerope poultoni", and the newly discovered south american "a. brasiliensis". the biology of these species is essentially unknown, and their larvae have never been seen. the disjunct distribution suggests a common origin before the breakup of the ancient supercontinent of pangaea. there are two undisputed extinct genera, "boreomerope antiqua" known from an isolated wing found in the middle jurassic itat formation of siberia and "burmomerope" with two species from the cenomanian aged burmese amber. as such, the extant members of this family can be considered living fossils. these insects are also of interest due to their presumed basal position in the order mecoptera. "thaumatomerope" with four described species all from the madygen formation in kyrgyzstan has historically sometimes been included within the family, "thaumatomerope" is sometimes excluded from meropeidae, and instead, is placed within eomeropidae, or its own monotypic family, "thaumatomeropidae."*