Chaulioditidae from Germany with a description of a new specimen from the early Middle Triassic of Gambach/Main, Bavaria (Insecta: Grylloblattida)

Abstract

A new insect from a sequence called the 'Strohgelbe Kalke' of the Upper Buntsandstein (uppermost Rot; Early Anisian, early Middle Triassic) of Gambach on the River Main in Unterfranken (Lower Franconia), northern Bavaria (South Germany) is identified as Chauliodites cf. picteti Heer, 1865 (Grylloblattida: Chaulioditidae). A more detailed determination is impossible pending detailed revision of the holotype specimens of two species from the slightly older Middle Buntsandstein, Scythian, of Godewitz near Salzmunde, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany: Chauliodites picteti Heer 1865 and 'Chauliodites zinkeni Heer 1865'. The latter is now regarded as 'Insecta incertae sedis' whereas 'Anasialis langei Handlirsch 1939' from the Middle Buntsandstein of Bremke near Gottingen, Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony, Germany) seems to be a younger subjective synonym of Chauliodites picteti Heer 1865. Additionally, brief comments are given on the present state of the discussion of some main groups of fossil Grylloblattodea.