FOSSIL  INSECTS -

A Web page by Roy J. Beckemeyer  (Roy Beckemeyer pursues his work in paleoentomology as a Museum Associate of the University of Kansas Natural History Museum.  

Last Updated: 10 April 2008

Please do not use any of the images of fossil insects on these pages without permission.

Paleodictyoptera: Dunbaria fasciipennis Tillyard in Dunbar & Tillyard 1924.  This insect, with its beautifully-patterned wings and long cerci (the "tails"), had a wingspan of about 37 mm.  It flew some 260 million years or so ago over what are today the prairies of central Kansas.  This image is a scan of the original glass plate negative used for the type description of the species.  Scan courtesy of and used with the permission of the Cawthron Institute, Nelson, New Zealand, which is where Robin J. Tillyard, one of the great insect paleontologists and entomologists, worked when he studied the Yale collection of Kansas Elmo fossils.  Thanks to Rod Asher of The Cawthron Institute for scanning the images for me.  

LINK HERE TO PAGE ON INSECT PHYLOGENY & EVOLUTION

KANSAS & OKLAHOMA FOSSIL INSECT SITES:

This site will focus on the Permian fossil insect Lagerstätten of Kansas and Oklahoma (The Wellington Formation sites - see map on right):

• Elmo, Kansas (Dickinson County)

• Midco, Oklahoma (Noble County)

But there are other fossil localities representing other geological eras at which insect fossils have been found (though not in the numbers and varieties found at the Wellington sites):

• Hamilton Quarry (Greenwood County, Kansas - Permo-Carboniferous)

• Other insect beds in Kansas & Oklahoma - (Cretaceous, Carboniferous)

LINKS TO INFO ON GIANT DRAGONFLIES AND OTHER PALAEOZOIC WONDERS:

• Here is a link to a new page, with photos of life-size reconstructions of Palaeozoic Arthropods by Werner Kraus, Preparator with RWTH Aachen University, Germany.

• Link to a page on "Ancient and Modern Dragonflies" - photos of extant dragonfly specimens with fossil wings of various Protodonata.

• "Protodonate" Flight-related Wing Geometry Research by Roy Beckemeyer (click on picture to link):

This picture is from an Excel spreadsheet  in which I am digitizing the geometry of the hind wing of Megatypus schucherti.  These data are from a scaled scanned image of the fossil.  I am now adding to this information the depth dimension so that I will have three-dimensional geometry of the wing veins and will be able to estimate the cross sectional moment of inertia of the wing and therefore its bending stiffness.   Hopefully this will allow, by comparison with similar parameters for extant Odonata, some inferences about the flight of this giant Permian insect.   Vein nomenclature follows Riek and Kukalova -Peck (1984).  Information ©2002 by Roy J. Beckemeyer.  Please do not copy or use this information as it is part of an ongoing research project that will be published upon completion.

FREE PUBLICATION ON THE ELMO FOSSIL INSECTS:

An issue of The Kansas School Naturalist titled "The Permian Insect Fossils of Elmo, Kansas" (Vol. 46 No. 1, 16 pp., February, 2000, by Roy J. Beckemeyer) is available.  A copy of it can be obtained free of charge from Emporia State University: Kansas School Naturalist, Div. of Biological Sciences, Box 4050, Emporia State University, Emporia, Kansas 66801-5087.  (Although a donation of one or a few dollars to the Kansas School Naturalist Endowment Fund would help to fund additional publications in the series in the future. - Roy Beckemeyer)

NEW: ON-line Version of this Issue: THE PERMIAN INSECT FOSSILS OF ELMO, KANSAS

 Reprints of the following papers on Wellington Formation fossil insects are available on request from Roy Beckemeyer:

Left: A specimen of Dunbaria fasciipennis as figured in the paper:

Beckemeyer, R. J. and G. W. Byers.  2001.  Fore wing morphology of Dunbaria fasciipennis (Palaeodictyoptera: Spilapteridae) with notes on a specimen from the University of Kansas.  Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society.  74(4):221-230.  

Right: Holotype of Martynovia halli Beckemeyer 2004 as figured in the paper:

Beckemeyer, R.J.  2004.  A new species of Martynovia Tillyard, 1932 (Insecta: Diaphanopterodea: Martynoviidae) from the Lower Permian Wellington Formation of Noble County, Oklahoma.  Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society.  77(2):127-131.

Left: Holotype of Cyphoneurodes patriciae Beckemeyer 2004 as figured in the paper: 

Beckemeyer, R.J.  2004.  A new species of the extinct family Lophioneuridae from the Lower Permian Wellington Formation of Noble County, Oklahoma.  Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society.  77(2):132-136.

Right: Holotype of Grylloblattida: Protoperlina: Raaschiidae: Raaschia oklahomensis Beckemeyer 2004 as figured in the paper: 

Beckemeyer, R.J.  2004.  Raaschiidae (Grylloblattida: Protoperlina), a new insect family from the Lower Permian Wellington Formation of Noble COunty, Oklahoma.  Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society.  77(3):215-221.

The next seven images are new species described in the paper:  Béthoux, O. and R. J. Beckemeyer.  2007.  New and rare insect species from the Wellington Formation (Orthoptera, Grylloblattodea; Lower Permian, USA).  Alavesia.  1: 49-61.

Left Orthoptera:  Mezenoedischiinae: Pseudoiasvia sinuosa Béthoux and Beckemeyer 2007.  [Photo and drawings courtesy of Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.]

Right: Orthoptera: Crinoedischia butsi Béthoux and Beckemeyer 2007.  [Photo and drawings courtesy Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, CT.]

Left: Orthoptera: Crinoedischia noblensis Béthoux and Beckemeyer 2007.  [Photo and drawings by Roy J. Beckemeyer.]

Right: Grylloblattodea: Aibolitus minutus Béthoux and Beckemeyer 2007.  [Photo and drawings courtesy of Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.]

Left: Grylloblattodea: Elmopterum rotundum Béthoux and Beckemeyer 2007.  [Photo and drawings courtesy of Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.]

Right: Grylloblattodea: Liomopteridae: Midcopterum evidens Béthoux and Beckemeyer 2007.  [Photo and drawings courtesy of Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.]

Left: Grylloblattodea; Sigmophlebia engeli Béthoux and Beckemeyer 2007.  [Photo and drawings by Roy J. Beckemeyer.]

Right: A specimen of Permopanorpa inaequailis Tillyard 1926 from the paper:

Beckemeyer, R. J. and J. D. Hall.  2007.  Permopanorpa inaequalis Tillyard, 1926 (Insecta: Holometabola: Panorpida: Permopanorpidae): A fossil mecopteroid newly reported for the Lower Permian Wellington Formation of Noble County, Oklahoma.  Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science.  110(1/2): 23-29.

Left: Coleoptera: Permocoleus wellingtonensis Lubkin & Engel 2005 from the paper:

Beckemeyer, R.J. and M. S. Engel.  2008.  A second specimen of Permocoleus (Coleoptera) from the Lower Permian Wellington Formation of Noble County, Oklahoma.  Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society.  81(1):4-7.

The author of these web pages gives talks on the Lower Permian insects of Kansas and Oklahoma to interested groups -

Above left: Roy Beckemeyer giving a talk ("When Bugs Ruled The Skies") on the fossil insects of Kansas and Oklahoma to the Idalia Society of Mid-America Lepidopterists Meeting, September, 2007.  Right: Looking over some paleozoic insect fossils at the Idalia Society meeting.  Original photos by Betsy Betros of the Idalia Society.

  I have also included some links to introductory material related to insects and their  fossils:

• Higher order taxonomy of Insecta
• Insect taphonomy (1) 
  • (Click HERE for definition of "TAPHONOMY")
  • Insect taphonomy (2)   
  • Insect taphonomy (3) 
  • Insect taphonomy (4) 
• Geological time
• Geological maps of Kansas and Oklahoma
• Bibliography
• Other Fossil Insect Web Sites