Palaeozoic insect nymphs: new finds from the Piesberg quarry (Upper Carboniferous, Germany)

 

Authors: Haug JT, Leipner A, Wappler T, Haug C

Published in: Bulletin of Geosciences, volume 88, issue 4; pages: 779 - 791; Received 7 December 2012; Accepted in revised form 17 June 2013; Online 11 September 2013

Keywords: Dictyoptera, nymph, hemimetaboly, blattoid, palaeo-evo-devo,

full text (PDF, 8.53 MB)

Export to RIS

 

Abstract

We report fragmentary specimens from the Piesberg quarry (Upper Carboniferous, Northwestern Germany) that represent exuviae of nymphal blattoids (Dictyoptera). Most of the remains are isolated abdomina, one specimen also preserves a wing pad. The specimens document two developmental stages and include the smallest Palaeozoic blattoid nymph found to date. The specimens from the Piesberg quarry closely resemble other Palaeozoic blattoid nymphs, for example, specimens from the famous Mazon Creek Lagerstätte (Upper Carboniferous, Illinois, USA), at least as far as external morphology is concerned. As for preservation, the specimens from the Piesberg quarry show strong resemblance to specimens from the Lower Permian Elmo Lagerstätte (Kansas and Oklahoma, USA). The two Lagerstätten, although differing in age, appear therefore to be interesting candidates for a palaeoecological comparison. The find of immature insects at the Piesberg quarry is another example of fossilised development in arthropods from this Lagerstätte, other examples are known from Euproops, Arthropleura and Aphantomartus pustulatus

References

Anderson, L.I. & Trewin, N.H. 2003. An Early Devonian arthropod fauna from the Windyfield cherts, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Palaeontology 46, 467-509.View article

Beckemeyer, R.J. 2000. The Permian insect fossils of Elmo, Kansas. The Kansas School Naturalist 46, 1-16.

Bell, W.J., Roth, L.M. & Nalepa, C.A. 2007. Cockroaches - Ecology, Behavior, and Natural History. 230 pp. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.

Bengtson, S. 2000. Teasing fossils out of shales with cameras and computers. Palaeontologia Electronica 3(1), art. 4, 14 pp.

Béthoux, O. & Herd, K.J. 2009. Discovery of an enigmatic and gigantic Pennsylvanian Archaeorthoptera. Journal of Orthoptera Research 18, 23-28.View article

Bolton, H. 1921-1922. A Monograph of the Fossil Insects of the British Coal Measures. vi + 156 pp. Palaeontographical Society, London.

Brauckmann, C. 1983. Ein Insektenrest (Odonata, Meganisoptera) aus dem Ober-Karbon des Piesberges bei Osnabrück. Osnabrücker naturwissenschaftliche Mitteilungen 10, 7-14.

Brauckmann, C. 1991. Ein neuer Insekten-Rest (Megasecoptera) aus dem Ober-Karbon von Osnabrück. Osnabrücker naturwissenschaftliche Mitteilungen 17, 25-32.

Brauckmann, C. 1995. Neue Insekten-Funde (Palaeodictyoptera: Breyeriida) aus dem Ober-Karbon von Osnabrück (Deutschland). Osnabrücker naturwissenschaftliche Mitteilungen 20/21, 157-165.

Brauckmann, C. & Herd, K.J. 2000. Eine weitere neue Breyeriiden-Art (Insecta, Palaeodictyoptera) aus dem Ober-Karbon von Osnabrück (Deutschland). Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Monatshefte 2000(6), 333-344.View article

Brauckmann, C. & Herd, K.J. 2002. Insektenfunde aus dem Westfalium D (Ober-Karbon) des Piesberges bei Osnabrück (Deutschland), Teil 1 Palaeoptera. Osnabrücker naturwissenschaftliche Mitteilungen 28, 27-69.

Brauckmann, C. & Herd, K.J. 2005. Insekten-Funde aus dem Westfalium D (Ober-Karbon) des Piesberges bei Osnabrück (Deutschland), Teil 2 Neoptera. Osnabrücker naturwissenschaftliche Mitteilungen 30/31, 19-65.

Brauckmann, C. & Herd, K.J. 2007. A subcircular insect wing from the Late Carboniferous of Osnabrück, Germany. Clausthaler Geowissenschaften 6, 79-85.

Brauckmann, C., Herd, K.J. & Leipner, A. 2009. Insekten-Funde aus dem Westfalium D (Ober-Karbon) des Piesberges bei Osnabrück. Osnabrücker naturwissenschaftliche Mitteilungen 35, 5-30.

Braun, A. 1997. Vorkommen, Untersuchungsmethoden und Bedeutung tierischer Cuticulae in kohligen Sedimentgesteinen des Devons und Karbons. Palaeontographica, Abteilung B 245, 83-156.

Briggs, D.E.G. 1979. Anomalocaris, the largest known Cambrian arthropod. Palaeontology 22, 631-664.

Briggs, D.E.G. & Bartels, C. 2001. New arthropods from the Lower Devonian Hunsrück Slate (Lower Emsian, Rhenish Massif, western Germany). Palaeontology 44, 275-303.View article

Briggs, D.E.G., Sutton, M.D., Siveter, David J. & Siveter, Derek J. 2005. Metamorphosis in a Silurian barnacle. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 272, 2365-2369.View article

Budd, G.E. 2008. Head structure in upper stem-group euarthropods. Palaeontology 51, 561-573.View article

Burnham, L. 1994. The Stephanian (Late Carboniferous) insects of the basin of Montceau-les-Mines (Massif Central - France), 187-200. In Poplin, C. & Heyler, D. (eds) Quand le Massif Central était sous l’Équateur: un écosysteme carbonifere a Montceau-les-Mines. CTHS, Paris.

Daley, A.C. & Budd, G.E. 2010. New anomalocaridid appendages from the Burgess Shale, Canada. Palaeontology 53, 721-738.View article

Duncan, I.J., Titchener, F. & Briggs, D.E.G. 2003. Decay and disarticulation of the cockroach: implications for preservation of the blattoids of Writhlington (Upper Carboniferous), UK. Palaios 18, 256-265.View article

Dunlop, J.A., Anderson, L.I., Kerp, H. & Hass, H. 2004. A harvestman (Arachnida: Opiliones) from the Early Devonian Rhynie cherts, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Earth Sciences 94, 341-354.

Dunlop, J.A., Brauckmann, C. & Steur, H. 2008. A Late Carboniferous fossil scorpion from the Piesberg, near Osnabrück, Germany. Fossil Record 11, 25-32.View article

Factor, D.F. & Feldmann, R.M. 1985. Systematics and paleoecology of malacostracan arthropods in the Bear Gulch Limestone (Namurian) of central Montana. Annals of Carnegie Museum 54, 319-356.

Fayers, S.R. & Trewin, N.H. 2003. A new crustacean from the Early Devonian Rhynie chert, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences 93, 355-382.

Fayers, S.R. & Trewin, N.H. 2005. A hexapod from the Early Devonian Windyfield chert, Rhynie, Scotland. Palaeontology 48, 1117-1130.View article

García-Bellido, D.C. & Collins, D.H. 2006. A new study of Marrella splendens (Arthropoda, Marrellomorpha) from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale, British Columbia, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 43, 721-742.View article

Garwood, R., Ross, A., Sotty, D., Chabard, D., Charbonnier, S., Sutton, M. & Withers, P.J. 2012. Tomographic reconstruction of neopterous Carboniferous insect nymphs. PloS ONE 7(9), e45779.View article

Handlirsch, A. 1911. New Paleozoic insects from the vicinity of Mazon Creek, Illinois. American Journal of Science (Series 4) 31, 297-326 + 353-377.

Haug, C., Haug, J.T., Fayers, S.R., Trewin, N.H., Castellani, C.,Waloszek, D. & Maas,A. 2012a. Exceptionally preserved nauplius larvae from the Devonian Windyfield chert, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Palaeontologia Electronica 15, art. 15.2.24A.View article

Haug, C., Van Roy, P., Leipner, A., Funch, P., Rudkin, D.M., SCHÖLLMANN, L. & HAUG, J.T. 2012b. A holomorph approach to xiphosuran evolution - a case study on the ontogeny of Euproops. Development Genes and Evolution 222, 253-268.View article

Haug, J.T., Haug, C., Kutschera, V., Mayer, G., Maas, A., Liebau, S., Castellani, C., Wolfram, U., Clarkson, E.N.K. & Waloszek, D. 2011a. Autofluorescence imaging, an excellent tool for comparative morphology. Journal of Microscopy 244, 259-272.View article

Haug, J.T., Haug, C.,Maas, A., Kutschera, V. & Waloszek, D. 2010. Evolution of mantis shrimps (Stomatopoda, Malacostraca) in the light of new Mesozoic fossils. BMC Evolutionary Biology 10, art. 290, 17 pp.View article

Haug, J.T., Haug, C., Waloszek, D. & Schweigert, G. 2011b. The importance of lithographic limestones for revealing ontogenies in fossil crustaceans. Swiss Journal of Geosciences 104, Supplement 1, S85-S98.View article

Hirst, S. 1923. On some arachnid remains from the Old Red Sandstone (Rhynie chert Bed, Aberdeenshire). Annals and Magazine of Natural History (Series 9) 12, 455-474.View article

Hughes, C.L. & Kaufman, T.C. 2002. Hox genes and the evolution of the arthropod body plan. Evolution & Development 4, 459-499.View article

Jarzembowski, E.A. 1987. The occurrence and diversity of Coal Measure insects. Journal of the Geological Society 144, 507-511.View article

Kühl, G., Bergström, J. & Rust, J. 2008. Morphology, palaeobiology and phylogenetic position of Vachonisia rogeri (Arthropoda) from the Lower Devonian Hunsrück Slate (Germany). Palaeontographica, Abteilung A 286, 123-157.View article

Kukalová-Peck, J. 1997. Mazon Creek insect fossils: the origin of insect wings and clues about the origin of insect metamorphosis, 194-207. In Shabica, C.W. & Hay, A.A. (eds) Richardson’s Guide to the Fossil Fauna of Mazon Creek. Northeastern Illinois University Press, Chicago.

Labandeira, C.C. 2011. Evidence for an earliest Late Carboniferous divergence time and the early larval ecology and diversification of major Holometabola lineages. Entomologica Americana 117, 9-21.View article

Maas, A., Waloszek, D., Chen, J.-Y., Braun, A., Wang, X.-G. & Huang, D.-Y. 2004. Phylogeny and life habits of early arthropods - predation in the Early Cambrian sea. Progress in Natural Science 14, 158-166.View article

Meek, F.B. & Worthen, A.H. 1868. Preliminary notice of a scorpion, a Eurypterus? and other fossils from the Coal Measures of Illinois and Iowa. American Journal of Science and Arts 45, 25.

Miall, L.C. & Denny, A. 1886. The Structure and life-history of the cockroach (Periplaneta orientalis). 224 pp. Lovelle Reeve & Co., London.View article

Poplin, C. & Heyler,D. 1994. Quand le Massif Central était sous l’Équateur: un écosysteme carbonifere a Montceau-les-Mines. CTHS, Paris.

Racheboeuf, P.R., Schram, F.R. & VIDAL, M. 2009. New Malacostracan Crustacea from the Carboniferous (Stephanian) Lagerstätte of Montceau-les-Mines, France. Journal of Paleontology 83, 624-629.View article

Racheboeuf, P.R., Vannier, J. & Anderson, L.I. 2002. A new three-dimensionally preserved xiphosuran chelicerate from the Montceau-les-Mines Lagerstätte (Carboniferous, France). Palaeontology 45, 125-147.View article

Racheboeuf, P.R., Vannier, J., Schram, F.R., Chabard, D. & Sotty, D. 2008. The euthycarcinoid arthropods from Montceau-les-Mines, France: functional morphology and affinities. Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 99, 11-25.View article

Rasnitsyn, A.P. & Quicke, D.L.J. 2002. History of Insects. xii + 517 pp. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, Boston, London.View article

Rößler, R. 1998. Arachniden-Neufunde im mitteleuropäischen Unterkarbon bis Perm - Beitrag zur Revision der Familie Aphantomartidae Petrunkevitch 1945 (Arachnida, Trigonotarbida). Paläontologische Zeitschrift 72, 67-88.View article

Rolfe, W.D.I. 1967. Rochdalia, a Carboniferous insect nymph. Palaeontology 10, 307-313.

Santini, F. & Tyler, J.C. 2004. The importance of even highly incomplete fossil taxa in reconstructing the phylogenetic relationships of the Tetraodontiformes (Acanthomorpha: Pisces). Integrative and Comparative Biology 44, 349-357.View article

Schneider, J. 1983. Die Blattodea (Insecta) des Paläozoikums. Teil 1: Systematik, Ökologie und Biostratigraphie. Freiberger Forschungshefte C 382, 106-145.

Schneider, J. 1984. Die Blattodea (Insecta) des Paläozoikums. Teil II: Morphogenese der Flügelstrukturen und Phylogenie. Freiberger Forschungshefte C 391, 5-34.

Scholtz, G. & Edgecombe, G.D. 2006. The evolution of arthropod heads: reconciling morphological, developmental and palaeontological evidence. Development Genes & Evolution 216, 395-415.View article

Schram, F.R. & Horner, J. 1978. Crustacea of the Mississippian Bear Gulch Limestone of Central Montana. Journal of Paleontology 52, 394-406.

Schram, F.R., Boere, A.C. & Thomas, N. 2006. Cycloidea of the Mississippian Bear Gulch Limestone of Central Montana. Contributions in Science 504, 1-8.View article

Schultka, S. 2000. Zur Palökologie der Euproopiden im Nordwestdeutschen Oberkarbon. Mitteilungen aus dem Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, Geowissenschaftliche Reihe 3, 87-98.

Scourfield, D.J. 1926. On a new type of crustacean from the Old Red Sandstone (Rhynie Chert Bed, Aberdeenshire) - Lepidocaris rhyniensis, gen. et sp. nov. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B 214, 153-187 + 3 pls.View article

Scourfield, D.J. 1940. Two new and nearly complete specimens of young stages of the Devonian fossil crustacean Lepidocaris rhyniensis. Proceedings of the Linnean Society 152, 290-298.View article

Scudder, S.A. 1884. A contribution to our knowledge of Palaeozoic Arachnida. Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 20, 15-22.View article

Sellards, E.H. 1903. Some new structural characters of Paleozoic cockroaches. American Journal of Science (Series 4) 15, 307-315 + 2 pl.View article

Sellards, E.H. 1904a. A study of the structure of Paleozoic cockroaches, with descriptions of new forms from the Coal Measures. American Journal of Science (Series 4) 18, 113-134.View article

Sellards, E.H. 1904b. A study of the structure of Paleozoic cockroaches, with descriptions of new forms from the Coal Measures. American Journal of Science (Series 4) 18, 213-227.View article

Shabica, C.W. & Hay, A.A. 1997. Richardson’s Guide to the Fossil Fauna of Mazon Creek. 308 pp. Northeastern Illinois University Press, Chicago.

Stockmeyer Lofgren, A., Plotnick, R.E. & Wagner, P.J. 2003. Morphological diversity of Carboniferous arthropods and insights on disparity patterns through the Phanerozoic. Paleobiology 29(3), 349-368.View article

Van Roy, P., Orr, P.J., Botting, J.P., Muir, L.A., Vinther, J., Lefebvre, B., el Hariri, K. & Briggs, D.E.G. 2010. Ordovician faunas of Burgess Shale type. Nature 465, 215-218.View article

Van Roy, P. & Tetlie, O.E. 2006. A spinose appendage fragment of a problematic arthropod from the Early Ordovician of Morocco. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 51, 239-246.

Walossek, D. & Müller, K.J. 1998. Cambrian ‘Orsten’-type arthropods and the phylogeny of Crustacea, 139-153. In Fortey, R.A. & Thomas, R.H. (eds) Arthropod relationships. Systematics Association Special Volume Series 55. Chapman & Hall, London.

Waloszek, D., Chen, J.,Maas, A.&Wang, X. 2005. Early Cambrian arthropods - new insights into arthropod head and structural evolution. Arthropod Structure & Development 34, 189-205.View article

Waloszek, D., Maas, A., Chen, J. & Stein, M. 2007. Evolution of cephalic feeding structures and the phylogeny of Arthropoda. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 254, 273-287.View article

Wootton, R.J. 1972. Nymphs of Palaeodictyoptera (Insecta) from the Westphalian of England. Palaeontology 15, 662-675.

Zessin, W. 2006. Zwei neue Insektenreste (Megasecoptera, Odonatoptera) aus dem Westfalium D (Oberkarbon) des Piesberges bei Osnabrück, Deutschland. Virgo, Mitteilungsblatt des Entomologischen Vereins Mecklenburg 9(1), 37-45.

Zessin, W. 2008. Überblick über die paläozoischen Libellen (Insecta, Odonatoptera). Virgo, Mitteilungsblatt des Entomologischen Vereins Mecklenburg 11(1), 5-32.