The Blattodea (cockroaches), Mantodea (praying mantises) and Dermaptera (earwigs) of the Insect Limestone (late Eocene), Isle of Wight, including the first record of Mantodea from the UK

Abstract

The fossil cockroaches (Blattodea), praying mantises (Mantodea) and earwigs (Demaptera) are described from the Insect Limestone (Priabonian) of the Isle of Wight, southern England. Three new species of cockroach are described in the family Ectobiidae – Phyllodromica protosardea sp. nov., Balta protosimilis sp. nov. and Malaccina? wightensis sp. nov. – and a further nine indeterminate species are presented (based on ten specimens). The only known specimen of praying mantis is described as Protohierodula crabbi gen. et sp. nov. in the family Manteidae, which constitutes the first record of Mantodea from the UK. The only known specimen of earwig is an incomplete juvenile belonging to the superfamily Forficuloidea.

The Eocene Protohierodula crabbi Ross, 2019 cannot be reliably assigned to Manteidae (Insecta: Mantodea)

“…Svenson & Whiting (2009) considered the family polyphyletic. This new fossil was assigned to the Manteidae on the basis of the general shape of the forewing, which is very close to that of some extant genera in this family (Ross 2019). As mentioned by Ross, there is no forewing character allowing an attribution of a mantis to the Manteidae, not only because the current classification is mainly based on foreleg spines but also because the forewings of the crown mantises are very similar in their venations.…”

The Eocene Protohierodula crabbi Ross, 2019 cannot be reliably assigned to Manteidae (Insecta: Mantodea): A reply

“…Schubnel & Nel (2019) pointed out that the Manteidae are polyphyletic according to Svenson & Whiting (2009). However the four extant genera cited in Ross (2019) that I considered to be most similar to Protoheirodula , all belong to the same clade (see Svenson & Whiting 2009, p. 483) which falls within the strict sense of Manteidae as used by Svenson & Rodrigues (2017) in their time-calibrated phylogeny. Svenson & Rodrigues (2017) also suggested that the Manteidae in their strict sense originated in the Late Cretaceous, so the possibility of Protoheirodula belonging to the Manteidae is not unreasonable.…”

“…I welcome the Schubnel & Nel (2019) discussion on the placement of Protohierodula crabbi Ross, 2019. I would like to clarify my reasons for the initial placement and continue the discussion.…”