Tococladus

Coty, David, Háva, Jiří, Prokop, Jakub, Roques, Patrick & Nel, André, 2014, New archaeorthopteran insects from the Late Carboniferous of the Nord and Pasde-Calais basins in northern France (Insecta: Cnemidolestodea, Panorthoptera), Zootaxa 3878 (5), pp. 462-470 : 464

Cf. Tococladus species undetermined

( Fig. 1 )

Material studied: Specimen 0 0 13 (print and counterprint), coll. Patrick Roques, to be deposited in the Musée Géologique Pierre Vetter, Decazeville, France.

Age and outcrop. Type locality and horizon. Moscovian (Westphalian C/D equivalent to Bolsovian/Asturian), ‘Terril N°7’, Avion, Pas-de-Calais, France.

Description. A fragment of wing corresponding to the anterior part of the apex, fragment 19.4 mm long, 11.7 mm wide; convex RA with a series of sigmoidal anterior veinlets, RA distally fused with concave main branch of RP, near wing apex, common branch 2.6 mm long; a series of straight crossveins in area between RA and RP; RP with seven to nine parallel posterior branches with a series of simple straight crossveins between them; apical parts of branches of M and possibly CuA also preserved, parallel to the branches of RP.

Discussion. Although very incomplete, this wing fragment fits quite well with the equivalent portion of a forewing of Tococladus ralus Carpenter, 1966 , type species of the Permian genus Tococladus . It is especially remarkable in the distal fusion of RA with RP near wing apex and the numerous parallel posterior branches of RP with short crossveins between them (see Béthoux et al., 2003: fig. 1). Of course an attribution to the genus Tococladus sensu stricto is impossible to establish. The main interest of this fossil is that it represents the second Cnemidolestodea from the outcrop of Avion, the first one being Aviocladus pectinatus Prokop, Roques and Nel, 2014, from which it differs in the more numerous branches of RP and veinlets between RA and costal margin more sigmoidal ( Prokop et al., 2014).

Figures

FIGURE 1. cf. Tococladus sp. specimen Avion 0 0 0 13 stored in MNHN coll. finally deposited in the Musée Géologique Pierre Vetter, Decazeville, France. A, photograph of wing apex venation; B, line drawing of apical part of wing. Scale bar = 5 mm.