A new lobeattid insect from the permo-carboniferous of niedermoschel, Southwestern Germany (Archaeorthoptera)

Abstract

The species niedermoschelensis sp. nov. (Nosipteron niedermoschelensis gen. and sp. nov. under Linnaean nomenclature) is described on the basis of a single fossil specimen from the the Permo-Carboniferous deposits of Niedermoschel, Saar-Nahe Basin, Germany. The species is assigned to the higher taxon Archaeorthoptera (including among others, orthopterans and some stem orthopterans). The forewing morphology of the species suggests close relationships with lobeattid insects, a group widely represented during the Late Carboniferous, and one for which the monophyly is uncertain. The occurrence of niedermoschelensis sp. nov. near the Gzhelian/Asselian boundary constitutes the latest record of this group (assuming that it is monophyletic). In addition the new species exhibits a new combination of character states, including a comparatively long free part of CuA.