1963] 
Carpenter — Diaphanoptera 
247 
of scudderi to the type of Meunier’s Diaphanoptera superba and even 
considered it a possible synonym of superba. 
The significance of the specimen is that it shows that Diaphanoptera 
had very long cerci, similar to those subsequently found in other Dia- 
phanopterodea. 
Diaphanoptera superba Meunier 
Plate 28, C, D; Plate 29 
Diaphanoptera superba Meunier, 1908, Ann. Soc. Scient. Brux., 32:155; 1908, 
Mus. Nat. Hist. Natur., Bull. 14:173; 1909, Ann. Paleont. 4:141, pi. 2, fig. 
4; Lameere, 1917, Mus. Nat. Hist. Natur., Bull. 23:148. 
Diaphanopterites superbus Handlirsch, 1919, Denkschr. Akad. Wiss. 96:6 6. 
The type and only known specimen of this species consists of a 
whole specimen, shown in ventral view (counterpart not preserved), 
the wings resting obliquely along the abdomen. The structure of the 
thorax and abdomen is only vaguely indicated ; cerci, as well as other 
appendages and the head, are not preserved. The wings, however, are 
very clearly shown and except for the parts covered by the abdomen 
the venation can readily be worked out. Convexities and concavities 
are distinct. No satisfactory drawing of this fossil has been published. 
Meunier’s bears little resemblance to the actual fossil, having sub- 
petiolate wings and complete absence of Sc in the hind wing. Hand- 
lirsch’s figure, based entirely on Meunier’s very small published 
photograph, is misleading in almost all respects, showing anal lobes 
on the hind wings. This specimen is the most important of all those 
known in Diaphanoptera. The drawing in the accompanying figure 
includes only what can clearly be seen of the venation in the fossil, 
with some restored parts indicated by dotted lines. The specimen 
shows the basal curvature of Sc and Ri, as well as the characteristically 
radiating arrangement of the costal cross veins. In most respects the 
venation is close to that of munieri, although CuP is less branched in 
the latter. The wing spots are somewhat different; superba lacks the 
one at the origin of Rs but has an extra one in the area between MP3 
and R4 + 5 ; so far as they are preserved, the spots in the hind wing 
of superba are placed like those of the fore wing. There are no cerci 
visible in the specimen of superba. At the end of the abdomen there 
is a short projection or extension, which might be part of an ovipositor. 
The Order Diaphanopterodea 3 
Handlirsch erected this order in 1919 for the family Diaphanop- 
teridae. He gave two reasons for the ordinal separation of this family 
3 Handlirsch’s spelling of the ordinal name, Diaphanopteroidea, is unsatis- 
factory since the suffix “oidea” is ordinarily used for subordinal names. I 
have accordingly followed Rohdendorf’s altered version (1962). 
