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Here we describe the first discoveries of insects from the Gzhelian of the Reyran Basin (northern part of Esterel, South of France). These are a new mylacrid, Opsiomylacris sp. an undetermined genus and species of Phyloblattidae, two other roachoids of uncertain affinities, and a Palaeodictyoptera, all based on forewings. Although these discoveries demonstrate that insects were present in the corresponding paleoforest, they remain less diverse and rarer than the plant remains. The genus Opsiomylacris is currently supposed to have lived under xeric environments, possibly corresponding to the more xeric paleobiotas of the margin of the humid valley bottoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aeshna caseneuvensis sp. nov., the second oldest representative of the genus Aeshna, is described and figured from the lowermost Oligocene of Luberon in southeastern France. The oldest described species in this genus is from the uppermost Eocene of Colorado in USA. Their occurrence in very distant areas in an interval of time of less of five millions years strongly suggests that the genus is older, possibly appearing during the middle Eocene, as it is still unknown in the early Eocene odonate faunas. The specimen could be studied thanks to a technique of photograph under UV light newly developed by one of us (RG). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Afrozygopteron inexpectatus gen. et sp. nov., the oldest known representative of the protozygopteran grade from Gondwana, is described from the Guadalupian of Southern Africa. It is attributed to the family Luiseiidae, previously only known by one genus and species, Luiseia breviata described from the Carboniferous/Permian boundary of New Mexico (USA). This new fossil demonstrates that during the Carboniferous/Permian, the Protozygoptera were probably much more widely distributed than previously thought and were not limited to the northern part of Pangea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new dictyoneurid insect, Dictyoneura goujonorum n. sp. from the Latest Ghzelian – Asselian basin of Graissessac (Hérault, France) is described in details. It is represented by a well-preserved specimen with wings of 32–35 mm long and 13–14 mm wide and other peculiar diagnostic characters such an MP with four branches and a CuP with three branches. As all the other Dictyoneura species are known from the Namurian and/or the Wesphalian, Dictyoneura goujonorum n. sp. is the youngest representative of the genus. It is also the first record of the order Palaeodictyoptera from the Graissessac basin. The Carboniferous-Permian palaeodictyopterans are well-known to have lived in rather humid swamp forests. The global warming and drying of the climate during the Permian and/or the rise of potential predators may be responsible of their extinction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The genus Klebsiella Meunier, 1908 from the latest Carboniferous of Commentry, is revised, confirming its attribution to the Blattinopsidae. The family name Klebsiellidae should have priority on its junior synonym Blattinopsidae, but the common usage over time could allow maintaining the later. The first Blattinopsidae from the Moscovian Konservat–lagerstätte of Avion is described as a new genus and species Avionblattinopsis oudardi gen. et n. sp. on the basis of a single forewing. It differs from the other genera of this family in the vein ScP distally fused to the vein RA. It increases our knowledge about this family, known between the Late Carboniferous and the Middle Permian. An emended family diagnosis is proposed. Protoblattiniella minutissima Meunier, 1912, based on a mature nymph would better fit with the Paoliidae than with the Blattinopsidae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The earliest Eocene Eochauliops longicornisgen. et sp. n., first fossil Malcidae, is described from the amber of Oise (France). Together with the previous discovery of a species of Blissidae in the same amber, it suggests that the Lygaeoidea were already rather diverse during the Palaeocene, even if the Mesozoic record of this superfamily remains uncertain and scarce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eochauliops longicornisgen. et sp. n., first fossil Malcidae, is described from the lowermost Eocene amber of Oise (France). Together with the previous discovery of a Blissidae in the same amber, it suggests that the Lygaeoidea were already rather diverse during the Palaeocene, even if the Mesozoic record of this superfamily remains uncertain and scarce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The limoniid fly Trentepohlia (Mongoma) pouilloni n. sp. Ngô-Muller, Garrouste & Nel, is the first fossil insect to be described from Sumatra. On the basis of its wing morphology and venation, it is very similar to the extant Sumatran species Trentepohlia (Mongoma) pennipes (Osten Sacken, 1888), supporting a Miocene rather than older age for the amber. By comparison with the few available data on the biology of the extant species of the subgenus Mongoma, it probably lived in a warm and humid forest where it was trapped in dipterocarpacean resin. The wide Cenozoic distribution of the subgenus Mongoma in Europe and South-East Asia is in accordance with its extant circumtropical distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Permian odonatopteran Protanisoptera are discovered for the first time in the playa palaeoenvironments of Gonfaron and Lodève (Southern France). The new genus and species Bansheepteron gonfaronensis is erected and described on the basis of a distal half of a wing from the Guadalupian of Gonfaron. It is compared with all the previously described protanisopterans. Another specimen consisting of a basal half of a wing from the Guadalupian of Lodève, attributed to cf. Bansheepteron gonfaronensis, is also described. Furthermore, three new panorthopteran Caloneurodea are described from the Early to Middle Permian (Cisuralian and Guadalupian) of Southern France, viz. Gallogramma galadrieli gen. et sp. nov. from the le Luc Basin (Gonfaron, Var), and Paleuthygramma cf. acuta Carpenter, 1943 from the Lodève Basin (Hérault). These new fossils increase the palaeodiversity of the Caloneurodea, an interesting clade which now gathers six species in the red Permian of the Southern France, making it one of the most diverse clade in these palaeoenvironments after the Odonatoptera. The present discoveries better support a Guadalupian age for the Gonfaron Formation, even if a Late Cisuralian affinities remains possible. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:1955790C-EA66-4137-9300-3E1B76C1585F http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:0E77F461-6096-4567-8477-AA3D0D1037D3 http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:1D6DE829-BB0D-4EDA-9707-BFF442581601 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new damselfly genus and speciesValerea multicellulatais described from the Paleocene of Menat (France), a Lagerstatte with many fossil insects, plants and vertebrates with high paleontological value. Aquatic insects are very scarce in this outcrop, this damselfly being the fourth described Odonata. Its closest modern relatives belong to the Amphipterygidae or the Devadattidae, families with very narrow tropical extant distributions. This new fossil allows us to confirm the tropical affinities of the odonatan fauna of the Menat paleolake communities. It also shows that the amphipterygids were clearly more widespread during the Paleogene than today, probably in relation to the worldwide warm and equable climate in the Paleocene. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:3F631097-DE0B-40FA8227-9C12F55DBAB4 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]