This is the "Fossil Friday" post #40. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to [email protected]. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world!
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Remember Heterologus langfordorum, a winged insect from the Mazon Creek deposit, mentioned in the Mazon Monday #43 post last Monday? That species was recognized by this pair of wings.
These fossil wings represent the holotype of the species, and now reside at Illinois State Museum. The animal was described in 1944 by Frank Carpenter, who was curator of Fossil Insects at Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology for 60 years. It was collected by George Langford Sr. and his son George Langford Jr. in June 1938 and was gifted to the museum by George in 1939.
CARBONIFEROUS INSECTS FROM THE VICINITY OF MAZON CREEK, ILLINOIS,by CARPENTER. F. M. Illinois State Museum (Springfield, Illinois), Scientific Papers, vol. III, Part 1: 9-0, 4 pis.Annals of the Entomological Society of America, Volume 37, Issue 3, 1 September 1944, Page 364, https://doi.org/10.1093/aesa/37.3.364Published: 01 September 1944
Frank Carpenter wrote one of the chapters on Mazon Creek insects in the "Richardson's Guide to The Fossil Fauna of Mazon Creek". H. langfordorum does have a small mention on page 191, which includes a picture of the holotype shown above.
Heterologus langfordorum Carpenter (1944) of the family Cacurgidae is the largest of the Protorthoptera from Mazon Creek (Figures 14A.24, 14A.25). The forewing is elongate oval; SC is very straight, and RS is more extensive than M. Cross veins were numerous but did not form a network.
ESCONI member Marie Angkuw sent along the following picture of a breathtaking H. langfordorum. You might remember that she had a beautiful Annularia fossil featured here last week. Both were collected during the same trip to the Mazon River and they opened up via freeze/thaw at around the same time.
Congratulations, Marie... what a haul and what a trip! Well, at least there is one of us that can't say she never finds anything...
