3 2 
Psyche 
[March 
Microdictya vaillanti (Brongniart) 
Figures 73, 74, 75 
Heeria vaillanti Brongniart, 1893: 389. 
Microdictya vaillanti Brongniart, 1893, Atlas: 28, pi. 22, fig. 12, pi. 23, 
fig. 1, 2; Handlirsch, 1906: 65, pi. 9, fig. 6; Lameere, 1917: 159; 
Handlirsch, 1919: 6. 
Stenodictya gaudryi Brongniart, 1893: 384, pi. 22, fig. 5; Handlirsch, 1906: 
64, pi. 8, fig. 21; Handlirsch, 1919: 3. 
This species was based by Brongniart on two specimens: 23-1 
(and its counterpart 23-2), an incomplete body and four remarkably 
preserved wings; and 22-12, a fore wing with a small fragment of 
a hind wing. I designate specimen 22-12 (figure 72) as the lecto- 
type of vaillanti since the other specimen is not present in the 
collection of the Institut in Paris and is presumed lost. The figure 
of that fossil (figure 73) included here is based on an excellent 
photograph of it made by Dr. Carpenter in 1938; in the photograph, 
all features of the wings, including the archedictyon, are perfectly 
clear. The body (best preserved in the reverse half of the fossil) 
shows the head, prothoracic lobes and part of the abdomen but 
unfortunately I was not able to work out these details reliably 
enough from the photograph for inclusion in the drawing. 
Specimen 22-5, described by Brongniart in 1893 as gaudryi 
(figure 74) is clearly vaillanti. The fore wing is very faintly 
preserved and Brongniart, with the methods he used, was unable 
to see the characteristic branches on MP and CuP, which do become 
distinct under glycerin. 
The characteristics of vaillanti are as follows: fore wing, length 
60 to 70 mm, width 15 to 18 mm. Fore wing oval, broadest at 
about mid-wing; anterior margin slightly convex; posterior margin 
slightly concave. Rs originating well before mid-wing, with four 
branches. MP giving rise to two branches, CuP with one or two 
branches. Anal area narrow, with four veins, some of them forked. 
Arched ict}i r on denser than in most other species, the components 
bordering the cells irregular, giving the cells the character of a 
“loose” network. Hind wing, width 16.5 - 19.5 mm. Posterior 
margin slightly more concave. 
Microdictya vaillanti is related to hamyi in having a dense 
archedictyon but differs in having the veins directed more obliquely 
and by having narrower rs, m and cu areas. From lacroixi Meunier, 
which has a similar shape of hind wing and similar venation, it 
differs in the much denser archedictyon. 
