A new, rare and distinctive species of Panorthoptera (Insecta, Archaeorthoptera) from the Upper Carboniferous of Xiaheyan (Ningxia, China)

Abstract

Abstract. The Xiaheyan locality is providing abundant material on one of the earliest insect faunas. The most common species are comparatively remote relatives of Orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets and katydids), belonging to the Archaeorthoptera nec Panorthoptera (the latter including crown Orthoptera). We establish the genus Sinogerarus gen. nov. to accommodate a new, rare species, S. pectinatus spec. nov., which can be conclusively assigned to Panorthoptera. It therefore represents the second occurrence of the group at this locality. The new species displays a distinctive combination of character states, adding to the knowledge of a number of Upper Carboniferous Panorthoptera whose relationships are poorly understood.

A new strange Archaeorthoptera from the Moscovian of Avion (France) (Insecta, Polyneoptera)

“…Few cases of Archaeorthoptera with CuPa ending into M+CuA and not in a free CuA are known. It is the case for Bruaylogus magnificus Coty et al, 2014, but this taxon has a CuPaβ as panorthopteran synapomorphy, and no anterior pectination of CuA+CuPa (Coty et al 2014;Gu et al 2017). Nugonioneura Tillyard, 1937(N. problematica Tillyard, 1937 known from the Lower Permian of Elmo in Kansas, U.S.A.) (Tillyard 1937;Aristov 2020, p. 6, Figs 3, 4) and Dvořák et al, 2021 (Pennsylvanian of Piesberg, Germany) also have no CuPaβ, a simple M anteriorly emerging from vein M+CuA+CuPa, and an anterior branch of CuA+CuPa parallel to M, as in Avionugonioneura gen. nov.…”

More than a name: Mid‐Cretaceous amber fossils link crickets and mole crickets (Orthoptera, Ensifera)

“…Orthoptera is a very ancient clade of insects, with stem representatives of the orthopteran lineage traced back to the late Carboniferous (after the fossil record), or even back to the early Carboniferous (355 Ma) based on molecular data (Gu et al, 2014(Gu et al, , 2017Song et al, 2020). The divergence between Tettigoniidea and Gryllidea may have been completed during the Permian period (Li et al, 2019;Song et al, 2015Song et al, , 2020 v.1.8.3 (Drummond et al, 2012;Drummond & Rambaut, 2007).…”

A new, rare and small “lobeattid” species (Insecta: Archaeorthoptera) found at Xiaheyan (Pennsylvanian; Ningxia, China)

“…For example, species such as Longzhua loculata Ren, 2011, Miamia maimai Béthoux, Gu, Yue andRen, 2012b and Protomiamia yangi Du, Béthoux, Gu and Ren, 2017 were described based on several tens of specimens each. However, the undertaken collecting effort also allowed sampling of rare species of stem Orthoptera, including Heterologus duyiwuer Béthoux, Gu and Ren, 2012a and Sinogerarus pectinatus Gu, Béthoux and Ren, 2017, each known from a single, isolated forewing. Herein we report the discovery of another, rare stem-orthopteran species.…”