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A Web page by Roy J. Beckemeyer  (Roy Beckemeyer pursues his work in paleoentomology as an Associate of the Paleoentomology Lab of Prof. Dr. Michael Engel of the KU Natural History Museum.  

Last Updated: 2 January 2011  Please do not use any of the images of fossil insects on these pages without permission.

Paleodictyoptera:Spilapteridae: Dunbaria fasciipennis Tillyard in Dunbar & Tillyard 1924.  This insect, with its beautifully-patterned wings and long cerci (the "tails"), had a wingspan of about 37 mm.  It flew some 260 million years or so ago over what are today the prairies of central Kansas.  This image is a scan of the original glass plate negative used for the type description of the species.  Scan courtesy of and used with the permission of the Cawthron Institute, Nelson, New Zealand, which is where Robin J. Tillyard, one of the great insect paleontologists and entomologists, worked when he studied the Yale collection of Kansas Elmo fossils.  Thanks to Rod Asher of The Cawthron Institute for scanning the images for me.  

 

LINK HERE TO PAGE ON INSECT PHYLOGENY & EVOLUTION

 

 

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KANSAS & OKLAHOMA FOSSIL INSECT SITES:

spacer This site will focus on the Permian fossil insect Lagersttten of Kansas and Oklahoma (The Wellington Formation sites - see map on right):

But there are other fossil localities representing other geological eras at which insect fossils have been found (though not in the numbers and varieties found at the Wellington sites):

LINKS TO INFO ON GIANT DRAGONFLIES AND OTHER PALAEOZOIC WONDERS:

spacer This picture is from an Excel spreadsheet  in which I am digitizing the geometry of the hind wing of Megatypus schucherti.  These data are from a scaled scanned image of the fossil.  I am now adding to this information the depth dimension so that I will have three-dimensional geometry of the wing veins and will be able to estimate the cross sectional moment of inertia of the wing and therefore its bending stiffness.   Hopefully this will allow, by comparison with similar parameters for extant Odonata, some inferences about the flight of this giant Permian insect.   Vein nomenclature follows Riek and Kukalova -Peck (1984).  Information 2002 by Roy J. Beckemeyer.  Please do not copy or use this information as it is part of an ongoing research project that will be published upon completion.

 

FREE PUBLICATION ON THE ELMO FOSSIL INSECTS:

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An issue of The Kansas School Naturalist titled "The Permian Insect Fossils of Elmo, Kansas" (Vol. 46 No. 1, 16 pp., February, 2000, by Roy J. Beckemeyer) is available.  A copy of it can be obtained free of charge from Emporia State University: Kansas School Naturalist, Div. of Biological Sciences, Box 4050, Emporia State University, Emporia, Kansas 66801-5087.  (Although a donation of one or a few dollars to the Kansas School Naturalist Endowment Fund would help to fund additional publications in the series in the future. - Roy Beckemeyer)

NEW: ON-line Version of this Issue: THE PERMIAN INSECT FOSSILS OF ELMO, KANSAS

 

 

 

 Reprints of papers on Wellington Formation fossil insects are available on request from Roy Beckemeyer; Here are images from some of the papers:

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Left: A specimen of Dunbaria fasciipennis as figured in the paper:

Beckemeyer, R. J. and G. W. Byers.  2001.  Fore wing morphology of Dunbaria fasciipennis (Palaeodictyoptera: Spilapteridae) with notes on a specimen from the University of Kansas.  Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society.  74(4):221-230.  

Right: Holotype of Martynovia halli Beckemeyer 2004 as figured in the paper:

Beckemeyer, R.J.  2004.  A new species of Martynovia Tillyard, 1932 (Insecta: Diaphanopterodea: Martynoviidae) from the Lower Permian Wellington Formation of Noble County, Oklahoma.  Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society.  77(2):127-131.

 

 

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Left: Holotype of Cyphoneurodes patriciae Beckemeyer 2004 as figured in the paper: 

Beckemeyer, R.J.  2004.  A new species of the extinct family Lophioneuridae from the Lower Permian Wellington Formation of Noble County, Oklahoma.  Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society.  77(2):132-136.

 

Right: Holotype of Grylloblattida: Protoperlina: Raaschiidae: Raaschia oklahomensis Beckemeyer 2004 as figured in the paper: 

Beckemeyer, R.J.  2004.  Raaschiidae (Grylloblattida: Protoperlina), a new insect family from the Lower Permian Wellington Formation of Noble COunty, Oklahoma.  Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society.  77(3):215-221.

 

 

The next seven images are new species described in the paper:  Bthoux, O. and R. J. Beckemeyer.  2007.  New and rare insect species from the Wellington Formation (Orthoptera, Grylloblattodea; Lower Permian, USA).  Alavesia.  1: 49-61.

 

 

 

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Left Orthoptera:  Mezenoedischiinae: Pseudoiasvia sinuosa Bthoux and Beckemeyer 2007.  [Photo and drawings courtesy of Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.]

Right: Orthoptera: Crinoedischia butsi Bthoux and Beckemeyer 2007.  [Photo and drawings courtesy Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, CT.]

 

 

 

 

 

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Left: Orthoptera: Crinoedischia noblensis Bthoux and Beckemeyer 2007.  [Photo and drawings by Roy J. Beckemeyer.]

 

Right: Grylloblattodea: Aibolitus minutus Bthoux and Beckemeyer 2007.  [Photo and drawings courtesy of Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Left: Grylloblattodea: Elmopterum rotundum Bthoux and Beckemeyer 2007.  [Photo and drawings courtesy of Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.]

 

Right: Grylloblattodea: Liomopteridae: Midcopterum evidens Bthoux and Beckemeyer 2007.  [Photo and drawings courtesy of Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.]

 

 

 

 

 

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Left: Grylloblattodea; Sigmophlebia engeli Bthoux and Beckemeyer 2007.  [Photo and drawings by Roy J. Beckemeyer.]

 

Right: A specimen of Permopanorpa inaequailis Tillyard 1926 from the paper:

Beckemeyer, R. J. and J. D. Hall.  2007.  Permopanorpa inaequalis Tillyard, 1926 (Insecta: Holometabola: Panorpida: Permopanorpidae): A fossil mecopteroid newly reported for the Lower Permian Wellington Formation of Noble County, Oklahoma.  Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science.  110(1/2): 23-29.

 

 

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Left: Coleoptera: Permocoleus wellingtonensis Lubkin & Engel 2005 from the paper:

Beckemeyer, R.J. and M. S. Engel.  2008.  A second specimen of Permocoleus (Coleoptera) from the Lower Permian Wellington Formation of Noble County, Oklahoma.  Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society.  81(1):4-7.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The author of these web pages gives talks on the Lower Permian insects of Kansas and Oklahoma to interested groups -

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Above left: Roy Beckemeyer giving a talk ("When Bugs Ruled The Skies") on the fossil insects of Kansas and Oklahoma to the Idalia Society of Mid-America Lepidopterists Meeting, September, 2007.  Right: Looking over some paleozoic insect fossils at the Idalia Society meeting.  Original photos by Betsy Betros of the Idalia Society.

The Transactions Kansas Academy of Science regularly publishes papers on paleontology and the Annual meeting of the Kansas Academy of Science  includes a paleontology symposium.  See the following link for more information: 

Kansas Academy of Science Home Page

 

  I have also included some links to introductory material related to insects and their  fossils:

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