299 



the separation of the sclerotisations of paa and pda is clearly suggested to have been 

 achieved three times independently. As regards the length of paa and pda, there are no 

 peculiar similarities in the shape of paa and pda in the Blattaria and Mantodea with these 

 processes being long. On the other hand, both paa and pda of Tryonicus and Mantoida 

 are rather similar, and in my view it is the most parsimonious solution to regard this 

 similarity as homologous and as representing the ground-plan condition. 



(B) Sclerite L2 arch-shaped or plate-like 



In Mantoida, Archiblatta, and Polyphaga L2 extends like an arch along the margins of 

 the Ive-pouch, and this has been regarded as the condition of the common ground-plan of 

 Blattaria and Mantodea (6.2.1., 7.1.; fig.324d,f,k). A plate-like L2, with the arms of the 

 arch (regions L2p and L2m) probably fused to each other, is present in Chaeteessa, 

 Metallyticus, and Sphodromantis (6.2.3.), but also in Eurycotis (6.2.1.) and, more or less, 

 in Cryptocercus (6.2.4.) (fig.324a,b,c,e,h). However, in Cryptocercus the indistinctness of 

 the arch-shape of L2 is due to a reduction of the right part of the L2-arch (L2m-region, 

 area of articulation A2) and to a broadening of the L2a-region; vestiges of the arch-shape 

 are still recognisable in this L2. Eurycotis has the posterior left-ventral part of L2 

 extremely reduced. In the respective Mantodea L2 is only narrowed, with none of its parts 

 reduced. Thus, the morphology of L2 and the concomitant circumstances of its plate-like 

 condition are very different in Eurycotis, in Cryptocercus, and in the respective Mantodea, 

 and this supports the assumption that the plate-like shape of L2 has arisen several times 

 by parallel evolution. Additionally, the plate-like condition is in my opinion more liable 

 to homoplasy than the more complicated arch-shape. 



(C) Sclerite L5 present or absent and in various positions 



As discussed in 6.5., the presence of L5 - somewhere in the dorsal wall of the vla-lobe 

 - might be the plesiomorphic state for Blattaria or even Blattaria -i- Mantodea, but a definite 

 decision is not possible. The extension 28 (a ventral part of sclerite L2) of Anaplecta and 

 Nahublattella is possibly homologous with L5 (6.5.). The position of L5 or 28 is very 

 similar in Polyphaga, Anaplecta, and Nahublattella, but since it is not clear which position 

 of L5 or 28 has to be regarded as primitive, this similarity could also represent the 

 plesiomorphic state of Blattaria or Blattaria -i- Mantodea. At the present state of knowledge, 

 the characters of these sclerotisations are not yet suitable for a phylogenetic analysis since 

 the polarity of their states remain uncertain. 



The following discussions will be concerned with the polarity of some characters, termed 



(D) -(K) and (L), for which the reciprocal outgroup comparison between Blattaria and 

 Mantodea suggests another polarity as it has been assumed in 7.1.-7.4. (or, in the case of 

 (G), this outgroup comparison is conflicting in the same way as in the characters discussed 

 under (A)-(C)). The question is whether some features present in some Blattaria but not 

 in the other Blattaria and in Mantodea are either ground-plan features of Blattaria as stated 

 in 7.3. or autapomorphies of Blattarian subgroups as it is suggested by the outgroup 

 comparison. If the polarity assumptions are based on the latter alternative, then (1) the 

 distribution of the states of the characters (D)-(K) would suggest a phylogenetic hypothesis 



