Phyloblattidae and Compsoblattidae (Insecta, Blattodea) from the late Carboniferous Souss basin, Morocco

Abstract

The Late Pennsylvanian (Kasimovian, early Stephanian) sub- to perimontaneous Souss basin, situated in the present-day southwestern High Atlas mountains of Morocco, contains the hitherto only known late Paleozoic entomofauna from North Africa, which is simultaneously also the southernmost Euramerican entomofauna. The present study provides descriptions, identifications, and revisions of several species belonging to the genera Phyloblatta and Anthracoblattina (family Phyloblattidae) and of the genus Compsoblatta (family Compsoblattidae). A relatively large number of well-preserved Phyloblatta forewings, compared with congeneric species from several insect localities in Europe and North America, permits insights into the individual, intraspecific, and interspecific variability of the venation pattern as indispensable base for the description of the new specimens and the revision of several older species. The Souss insect beds cover a wide range of potential habitats. They are situated in different paleogeographical positions within the Souss basin and scattered across a 900 m thick succession of sediments. The single insect beds represent different sedimentary and biotic subenvironments from swamps and mires to shallow and deep lakes within a fluvial-dominated megaenvironment.

Decoding the drivers of deep‐time wetland biodiversity: insights from an early Permian tropical lake ecosystem

“…13) and Phyloblatta , neither of which is used for biostratigraphic purposes due to their evolutionarily persistent venation patterns, weak interspecific differences, considerable individual variabilities and ecological specializations (Schneider 1978, 1983; Belahmira et al . 2019). Rather, fragments resembling the guide taxon Sysciophlebia ilfeldensis led Schneider & Werneburg (2006) to assign the Manebach Formation to what is now called the Sysciophlebia ilfeldensis – Spiloblattina weissigensis zone (Schneider et al .…”

The First Representative of the Roachoid Family Spiloblattinidae (Insecta, Dictyoptera) from the Late Pennsylvanian of the Iberian Peninsula

“…Affinities with the Subioblattidae (Triassic) are excluded because these have the vein RP and its branches sigmoidally curved [15]. Belahmira et al [16] proposed the following diagnosis for Phyloblatta Handlirsch, 1906: 'elongate ellipsoidal forewings of about 10-35 mm in length. Costal field strip-like, up to about 70% of forewing length.…”

“…The 'Sysciophlebia praepilata' insect zone is attributed to the 'Stephanian B/C' [38] (latest Gzhelian to earliest Asselian, 303.4 to 298.9 Ma, Commentry, France). The 'Sysciophlebia euglyptica' insect zone is attributed to the 'Stephanian C' (latest Gzhelian to earliest Asselian, 303.4 to 301.2 Ma, Ottweiler Stufe Formation, Germany), while the 'Sysciophlebia ilfeldensis' and 'Sysciophlebia hercynica' insect zones are slightly younger (early-middle Asselian, 298.9 to 295.0 Ma, Ilfeld Basin, Germany) [6,19,39].…”

Late Paleozoic–Early Mesozoic Insects: State of the Art on Paleoentomological Studies in Southern South America

“…4.6). Belhamira et al (2019) indicated that the finding of Anthracoblattina in both marine and continental deposits support that these insects preferred sparsely vegetated shores of lakes and seas as habitat.…”