The beetle-like Palaeozoic and Mesozoic roachoids of the so-called “umenocoleoid” lineage (Dictyoptera: Ponopterixidae fam. nov.)

Abstract

The position of Palaeozoic and Mesozoic roachoids and their relationships to crown-group Dictyoptera is an unresolved problem of insect systematics since Hennig's time. This contribution presents new data based on the wing venation of the Early Cretaceous group Cratovitismioidea (so-called “Umenocoleoidea”) supplemented with the discovery of the first Late Palaeozoic representative. As Umenocoleus, type genus of the Umenocoleidae, is considered as a Coleopterida, the roachoids currently included in the Umenocoleidae are transferred to the new family Ponopterixidae, in the new superfamily Cratovitismioidea. Permoponopterix lodevensis, a new ponopterixid genus and species, is described as the oldest representative of this superfamily, from the Middle Permian of the South of France. A new species Ponopterix burkhardi is described from the Lower Cretaceous of Crato Formation in Brazil. Convergent adaptations of tegmina in Coleopterida, Protelytroptera and Cratovitismioidea are discussed.