There has been considerable discussion of significant extinction, including insects, in extant ecosystems (Wilson 2002). The causes of this extinction have been attributed to direct anthropogenic consequences, such as the introduction of feral insectivorous organisms, or to the more indirect effects of global climatic change. Although present-day extinction is significant, direct comparisons to those of the fossil record are difficult because for the past there is reduced temporal resolution, a reliance on geographically widespread taxa, and that assessments are made at the family rather than lower taxonomic levels (Jablonski 1994). Bringing fossil insect data closer to the more finely resolved data of the present will allow a greater quantitative comparison between mass extinctions of deep time and those of today.