This is Mazon Monday post #228. What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:[email protected].
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Eubleptus danielsi, reconstruction by Carpenter (1983). Scale bar = 10 mm. Abbreviations: a, antenna; ab, abdo- men; c, cerci; f, foreleg; fw, forewing; h, head; hw, hind wing; p, prothorax.
Eubleptus danielsi belongs to the Palaeodictyoptera an extinct order of medium-sized to very large, primitive Palaeozoic paleopterous insects. Palaeodictyoptera give many clues to the evolution of wings in insects. E. danielsi was described by Anton Handlirsch in 1906. Handlirsch (1865 - 1935) was an Austrian entomologist, who worked extensively on many insect orders. He did significant work studying of fossil insects. Handlirsch described E. danielsi in "Revision of American Paleozoic insects. Proceedings of the United States National Museum".
E. danielsi was named for L.E. Daniels a significant collecting from Mazon, IL in the late 1800s (see Mazon Monday #184). Daniels has six Mazon Creek animals named for him, including a spider, a scorpion, and four insects. Fossilworks has references to some of the specimens he contributed to UMMP and USNM.
- Arthrolycosa danielsi (spider)
- Gerarus danielsi (winged insect)
- Asemoblatta danielsi (cockroach)
- Eubleptus danielsi (insect - Paleodictyioptera)
- Eoscorpius danielsi (scorpion)
- Aenigmatodes danielsi (insect)
In 1911, Handlirsch described Athymodictya parva in "New Paleozoic insects from the vicinity of Mazon Creek, Illinois, American Journal of Science, Series 4 31, 297-326", which was later classified as a synonym of E. danielsi by Frank M. Carpenter in 1983.
Anton Handlirsch
Eubleptus danielsi appears on the cover of Jack Wittry's "The Mazon Creek Fossil Fauna". Unfortunately, there is no discussion of the animal. However, it is mentioned on pages 187 and 188 of the "Richardson's Guide to the Fossil Fauna of Mazon Creek".
The family Eubleptidae, known only from Mazon Creek beds, includes a single species at present, Eubleptus danielsi Handlirsch (1906). This is one of the smallest members of the order Palaeodictyoptera, with a wing length of only 12.7 mm (0.5 in.) (Figures 14A.11, 14A.12). It is also one of the best known members of the Mazon Creek insect fauna, being represented by 17 specimens, of which all but two are from Pit 11 Carpenter (1983). The antennae and cerci are very long and slender. The fore and hind wings have a distinct line of four maculations along the anterior margins.
Specimens
FMNH PE 40223 (Paul Harris specimen from Pit 11)
FMNH PE 39355
ESCONI member from the Mazon River
Athymodictya parva is a synonym of Eubleptus danielsi as determined by Frank M. Carpenter in 1983 (YPM IP 000018). Collected by Samuel Strong in the mid 1800s.
