Fortiblatta cuspicolor LIANG, VRSANSKY and REN, 2009

Taxonomy

Cockroach

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda Latreille 1829
Class: Insecta Linnaeus 1758
Order: Blattaria Latreille 1810
Family: Raphidiomimidae Vishnyakova 1973
Genus: Fortiblatta
Species: Fortiblatta cuspicolor
Author Citation Liang et al., 2009

Geological Time Scale

Eon: Phanerozoic
Era: Mesozoic
Period: Jurassic
Sub Period: None
Epoch: Middle
International Age: Callovian to Oxfordian

Stratigraphy

Jiulongshan Formation
Daohugou Bed

Provenance

Acquired by: Purchase/Trade

Dimensions

Length: 34 mm

Location

Daohugou Village
Ningcheng County
Inner Mongolia
China

• daohugou
• fortiblatta
• inner mongolia
• jurassic
• raphidiomimidae
• tff-oilshale-ar2538

Comments

Part and counterpart of the same fossil. There are additional unidentified conchostraca (clam shrimps, arthropods) on the slabs.

The age of the Daohugou strata has been notoriously difficult to determine, and a number of studies have produced conflicting results. Gao and Shubin 2012 reported an Argon-argon dating age of 164 ±4 million years ago (Middle to Late Jurassic, Bathonian to Oxfordian), this opinion is now widely accepted.

Taxonomy according Fossilworks.org.

Line drawing from Liang et al., 2009, p.20.

Description according to Liang et al., 2009, p. 19: “Large Species (forewing length/width: 21.1–26.0mm/6.5–8.0mm; hind wing length/width: 21.0–24.0mm/7.0–8.3mm; head length/width: 3–4.6mm/2–2.5mm; pronotum length/width: 5–6.2mm/4.5mm–5.8mm), with body strongly sclerotised. Head base wide and coloured, eyes located basally, partially covered by pronotum; ocelli invisible. Pronotum vaulted, slightly elongate with dark coloration at center and at margins.

Veins dark, intercalaries and cross-veins distinct. Forewing with expanded venation. Area between anterior wing margin and Sc very long and narrow, Sc branched; R with undifferentiated Rs, does not reach apex; CuP slightly curved. Anal veins with tertiary branches, the base of anal region colored. Diagonal fold present. Hind wing with simple Sc; R differentiated into R1 and well-developed Rs; M reduced to few, usually 2 branches. CuA basal most branches strong, CuP simple, straight; anal lobe with fan-like pleating, A1 simple. Reticulations present in CuA-CuP space, joined with intercalaries.

Body wide. Abdominal segments long, with parallel margins. Cerci multi-segmented, the last three segments longest. Ovipositor outer valves internalized.“

Identified by oilshale using Liang et al., 2009.

References:
Liang, J. H., Vršanský,  P., and Ren, D. (2009): A new Jurassic carnivorous cockroach (Insecta, Blattaria, Raphidiomimidae) from the Inner Mongolia in China. Zootaxa 1974:17-30.

Gao, K. -Q. and Shubin, N. H. (2012): Late Jurassic salamandroid from western Liaoning, China. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 109 (15): 5767–72.