Systematics of Mesozoic ‘Arctic’ polar cockroaches

Abstract

This is an exclusively systematic background study reviewing 85 Mesozoic (latest Jurassic and Cretaceous) cockroaches and praying mantises from northern palaeo-polar (i.e. deposited within polar circles) deposits in Yakutia, Taimyr, Khabarovsk, Magadan and Chukotka (Russia), revealing 15 new species, which are herein characterised using systematic two-way analysis. The taphonomic conditions within these ‘Arctic’ paleo- polar sites were strongly influenced by long periods of pre-depositional transport.