The
Protorthoptera are an extinct order of insects known only from
the Paleozoic.
They are often considered a catch-all taxon and paraphyletic assemblage
of basal Neoptera, an infraclass that contains nearly all the
winged insects, i.e., winged insects that can flex their wings
over their abdomens. They appear during the Middle Carboniferous
(late Serpukhovian or early Bashkirian), making them among the
earliest known winged insects in the fossil record. Pronotal lobes
may be expanded to form a shield. The group includes the ancestors
of all other polyneopta, a supercohort in Neoptera. The order
went extinct during the great Permian (PT) extinction.
Protorthopteran
Insect Fossils
|
 |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
