PROTODONATA:
Oligotypus tillyardi Carpenter. 1931 from the Midco Insect Beds, Noble
County, Oklahoma
A Web Page by Roy J. Beckemeyer
Last Updated 2 August 2003
On July 31, 2003, Joseph Hall and Michael Montgomery of the
Wichita State University Geology Department were measuring sections and
incidentally collecting a few insect fossils from some of the Midco Oklahoma
sites when Michael came across a small slab of rock lying on the ground with a
nearly perfectly preserved "dragonfly" wing on it. The fossil is
somewhat weathered. This is a very small protodonate, Oligotypus
tillyardi, originally described by Frank Carpenter from material collected
at the Elmo, Kansas locality. Specimens were later taken by Carpenter and
Gilbert Raasch at the Midco, Oklahoma beds.
Above is a composite photo made from three separate microscopic images taken
by using a binocular microscope and a Nikon Coolpix 990 digital camera. It
can be seen that the extreme base of the wing is hidden beneath the rock matrix,
and a portion of the anal area is also obscured. The rest of the wing is
quite well preserved and exposed.
Below is a composite image of the fossil:
