New archaeorthopteran insects from the Pennsylvanian of Piesberg reveal unexpected mosaic of morphological traits and colouration pattern of the tegmina

ABSTRACT

New archaeorthopterans Contracladus impar gen. nov. et sp. nov. (uncertain assignement), Paraspiculum brauckmannii gen. nov. et sp. nov. (Caloneurodea) and Piesbergopterum punctatum gen. nov. et sp. nov. (Cnemidolestodea) are described from the Moscovian of Piesberg quarry near Osnabrück (Lower Saxony, Germany). All new taxa display unique patterns of their forewing venations. The mosaic of characters found in C. impar with a particular lack of a free vein CuA demonstrates the limits of the current systematics for Archaeorthoptera. The evidence for a supposedly disruptive pattern of colouration is demonstrated on the forewing membrane of P. punctatum, which shows numerous spots in the distal part of the wing. Those are inside the cells delimited by the crossveins. The exceptionally preserved fossils found in Piesberg document fine structural details and complete our knowledge on the early history of this diverse group of polyneopteran insects.

KEYWORDS:

• Insecta
• Polyneoptera
• Archaeorthoptera
• wing venation
• Carboniferous
• subvariscan foreland basin

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Alexander Rasnitsyn and two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and suggestions to the early version of this manuscript. We cordially thank Michael Sowiak (Glandorf, Germany) for his effort with the fieldwork at Piesberg quarry and willingness to provide specimens access for scientific evaluation. We also thank the GP Papenburg Company for their permission and technical support for palaeontological field work in their quarry. JP and MP gratefully acknowledge research support from the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic (No. 18-03118S).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Grantová Agentura České Republiky [18-03118S].