The two preceding papers in this series dealt with representatives of seven closely related families of the Order Protorthoptera occurring in the Elmo limestone. The present paper treats additional families o more diverse relationships within that order and also covers several families of the Order Orthoptera. The problems involved in the systematics o the Palaeozoic orthoptero[ds are intrinsically very great, mainly as a result of our fragmentary knowledge of most species but also as a result of the variability of the venation within species. It was my belief more than twenty years ago (943, PP. 76-77) that the classification of the Palaeozoic orthopteroids as suggested by Handlirsch first and by NIartynov later was not realistic in the light of our knowledge at that time. Since then many additional orthopteroids have been described d, mostly ro.m the Lower and Upper Permian strata o the Soviet Union. These new fossils have added greatly to our knowledge o the early history of the orthopteroid complex. Through the Courtesy of Dr. B. B. Rohdendor, Arthropod Section, Palaeontological Institute, Academy o Sciences, in Moscow, I had the opportunity in 96 o.f studying both the undescribed and described material in the collection of the Institute; and o discussing with Dr. Sharov, Dr.
Two worker ants preserved in amber of Upper Cretaceous age have been found in New Jersey. They are the first undisputed remains of social insects of Mesozoic age, extending the existence of social life in insects back to approximately 100 million years. They are also the earliest known fossils that can be assigned with certainty to aculeate Hymenoptera. The species, Sphecomyrma freyi, is considered to represent a new subfamily (Sphecomyrminae), more primitive than any previously known ant group. It forms a near-perfect link between certain nonsocial tiphiid wasps and the most primitive myrmecioid ants.
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