804 



ARTHROPODA 



PHYLUM VII 



species are known. Parotermes Scudder (Fig. 1551); Eutermes Heer; and Hodotermes 

 Hagen occur in the Miocene lake beds of Florissant, Colorado. 



Order 14. CORRODBNTIA Burmeister^ (Cojjeo g n atha Endevlein). 



(Book Lice). 



Minute terrestrial Insects ivith specialised ortliofteroid mouth ])arts, filiform or hair- 

 like antennae, and two pairs of unequal membranous xoings which are capable of being 

 folded backward, with reduced cross-veins. Hind wings smaller, 

 \ /* without folded anal lobe ; ne^iration highly specialised. Legs 



homonomous, with two- or three-jointed tarsi. Prothorax small ; 

 cerci reduced, ovipositor not prominent. 



Fig. 1552. 



A number of sjjecies belonging in j)art to extinct and in 



part to still living genera is known from Baltic amber (Lower 



Oligocene of East Prussia), and from Sicilian amber of Upper 



Miocene age. A very remarkable form with hard, chitinous 



Sphaeropsocus icuenovii ^ings, and interesting from a phylogenetic standpoint, is 



Hagen. Oligocene amber ; Sphaeropsocus Hagen (Fig. 1552), preserved in Baltic amber. 



Hagen)! ^^^^'"^ ^^ The fifteenth order Mallophaga Nitsche, including parasitic 



Bird Lice or Biting Lice, witli reduced mouth parts, and the 



sixteenth order Siphunculata Meinert ( = Anoplura Enderlein), which is allied to the 



Mallophaga but has suctorial mouth parts, comprise modern ectoparasitical Insects, 



and are not known to be represented in the fossil state. 



Order 17. COLEOPTERA Linnaeus. (Beetles). 



Terrestrial or aquatic Insects with orthopteroid biting mouth parts and generally 

 multiarticulate antennae. Four ivings are present ; the upper pair shell-like in con- 

 sistency, and forming cases (elytra) which meet 

 together along the median dorsal line, so as to 

 sheathe completely the delicate membranoiis hind 

 pair. Legs generally homonomous or the third 

 pair modified for swimming or leaping. Abdo- 

 men sessile, without cerci or prominent ovipositor ; 

 the number of visible segments more or less re- 

 duced. 



Over 350 species of rather primitive Cole- 

 optera have been found in Mesozoic strata, the 

 largest number being from the Uijper Jura. 

 The majority of these cannot be positively 

 assigned to Recent families, although it is 

 certain that many of these were represented as 

 early as the Mesozoic. On the other hand, 

 most of the Tertiary Coleoptera belong to exist- 

 ing families, and comprise nearly 2300 species. 

 This, however, is a small number in comparison to something like 200,000 described 

 species of Recent beetles. 



The principal families which are repi'esented in the fossil state are the Carabidae, 

 to whicli belongs the cursorial beetle Tauredon Handl. (Fig. 1553); Elateridae ; 

 BujDrestidae ; Dytiscidae, etc. The Strepsiptera of Kirby may be considered as a 



^ Enderlein, G., Die fossileu Copeognatheii iind ilne Phylogeuie. Palaeontogr., 1911, vol. Iviii. 



Fm. 1553. 



Tauredun horni Handl. Lithographic Stoni^ 

 (Upper Jura) ; Bavaria. 5/3 (after Haiidlirsch.) 



