In the Jurassic period many of the existing families, such as the Cicadidae, Fulgoridae, Aphidae, Nepidae, Reduviidae, Hydrometridae, Lygaeidae and Coreidae, had already become differentiated.
The Reduviidae are c _ After Carpenter, Proc. R.
In the Hemipterous group of the Rhynchota ant-mimicry is illustrated by the larva of a British species of Reduviidae (Nabis lativentris) in which the forepart of the abdomen is furnished on each side with a patch of white hairs leaving a central narrow dark portion in imitation of the waist of the ant; and also by an East African species (Myrmoplasta mira) which in its general form exhibits a close resemblance to an ant (Polyrrhacis gagates) which occurs in the same neighbourhood.
Another instance in this group is supplied by a Bornean species of Reduviidae which mimics a species of the genus Bracon, one of the parasitic Hymenoptera.
The same style of coloration is found in Coleoptera of the families Cetoniidae and Cantharidae; in Diptera of the families Asilidae, Bombylidae, Tabanidae and Tachinidae; in Hemiptera of the family Reduviidae and in Lepidoptera of the family Zygaenidae.
Towards this Lycoid centre have converged Coleoptera (beetles) of the sub-order Lamellicornia (Copridae), Phytophaga; Heteromera (Cantharidae) and Longicornia; Hemiptera of the families Pyrrhocoridae, Lygaeidae and Reduviidae; Lepidoptera of the families Arctiidae and Zygaenidae; Diptera of the family Asilidae; and lastly Hymenoptera of the families Braconidae, Pompilidae, Crabronidae and Eumenidae.