1967] 
Carpenter - — - Carboniferous insects 
79 
we do not know enough about the body structure of the Megasecop- 
tera to permit us to reach a conclusion on the relationship between 
these two orders. We do not know, for example, whether or not 
they possessed the prominent beak, now recognized as characteristic 
of the Palaeodictyoptera. None of the Megasecoptera preserved 
show a beak but this evidence is negative; the structure of their 
mouthparts is not actually known. For the present, therefore, it 
seems advisable to continue to recognize these orders as distinct. The 
Brodiidae, on the basis of wings, could belong to either of these orders 
but the evidence is perhaps slightly in favor of the Megasecoptera. 
At any rate, it seems advisable in the absence of more positive evidence 
to continue to place the Brodiidae in that order, with the hope that 
some fortunate collector (perhaps Walter Dabasinskas) will find 
us a complete specimen of the Brodiidae. 
Insecta Incertae Sedis 
Family Sypharopteridae Handlirsch 
Sypharoptera pneuma Handlirsch 
Text-fig. 5 
Sypharoptera pneuma Handlirsch, 1911, p. 372, fig. 55 (Order Sypharop- 
teroidea) ; Handlirsch, 1921, p. 144, fig. 74; Martynov, 1938, p. 65, fig. 33; 
Rohdendorf, 1962, p. 69, figs. 106a, b (Order Diaphanopterodea, Sub- 
order Protodiaphanopterodea) ; Laurentiaux, 1953, p. 426 (Sypharop- 
terodea) . 
The specimen on which this species was based consists of four 
wings and part of the thorax and abdomen, the wings being directed 
backwards, obliquely along the abodmen. Since Handlirsch was 
unable to assign this fossil to any known order, extinct or Recent, he 
established a new one for it, the Sypharopteroidea, which he thought 
represented an extinct off-shoot of the Palaeodictyoptera, with pos- 
sible relationship to the Megasecoptera. In 1921 he published a 
restored figure of the complete insect, showing the details of the head 
(including antennae and eyes) and legs, although none of these were 
Explanation of Plate 14 
Top figure, Brodia priscotincta Scudder. Photograph of part of wing in 
pterostigmal area (times 13) ; specimen in Scudder Collection, M.C.Z. 
Bottom figure, Euhrodia dabasinskasi, n. sp. Photograph of part of wing 
in pterostigmal area (times 13), holotype. 
Explanation of lettering: C, costa; Sc, subcosta; t, setal bases on R1 ; 
a, archedictyon of Euhrodia. The costa shows the prominent setae that 
form the serrations. 
