Triassic insects

thumb|266px|An Anthomyiidae|Anthomyiid species showing characteristic dipteran features: large [[eyes, small antennae, sucking mouthparts, single pair of flying wings, hindwings reduced to clublike halteres]]

Odonata is an order of predatory flying insects that includes the dragonflies and damselflies (as well as the Epiophlebia damsel-dragonflies). The two major groups are distinguished with dragonflies (Anisoptera) usually being bulkier with large compound eyes together and wings spread up or out at rest, while damselflies (suborder Zygoptera) are usually more slender with eyes placed apart and wings folded together along body at rest. Adult odonates can land and perch, but rarely walk.

Hymenoptera is a large order of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are parasitic. Females typically have a special ovipositor for inserting eggs into hosts or places that are otherwise inaccessible. This ovipositor is often modified into a stinger. The young develop through holometabolism (complete metamorphosis)—that is, they have a wormlike larval stage and an inactive pupal stage before they reach adulthood.

Titanoptera (from Ancient Greek Τιτάν (Titán), meaning "Titan", and πτερόν (pterón), meaning "wing") is an extinct order of neopteran insects from late Carboniferous to Triassic periods. Titanopterans were very large in comparison with modern insects, some having wingspans of up to or even .

Hymenopterida is a superorder of holometabolous (metamorphosing) insects. As originally circumscribed, it included Hymenoptera and the orders in Panorpida (Mecoptera, Siphonaptera, Diptera, Trichoptera and Lepidoptera). However, more recent studies find Hymenoptera as sister to the other members of Holometabola and the superorder is restricted to Hymenoptera.

Gigatitan (from Ancient Greek γίγας (gígas), meaning "giant", and Τιτάν (Titán), meaning "Titan") is an extinct genus of titanopteran insect that lived in Kyrgyzstan during the Triassic period. The type species is G. vulgaris, described by Aleksandr Grigorevich Sharov in 1968. Fossils of Gigatitan have been found in the Madygen Formation. It is the type genus of the family Gigatitanidae, in which the closely related Nanotitan and Ootitan are also included.