1969] 
Kukalova — Palaeodictyoptera 
447 
Family Lycocercidae Handlirsch, 1906 
Lycocercidae Handlirsch, 1906: 675; Handlirsch, 1906: 88; Handlirsch, 1921: 
133; Handlirsch, 1919: 15; Lameere, 1917: 102. 
Polycreagridae Handlirsch, 1906: 110; Handlirsch, 1906: 678; Handlirsch, 
1921: 137. 
Apopappidae Lameere, 1917: 42. 
Patteiskyidae Laurentiaux, 1958: 302; Demoulin, 1958: 363. 
Type genus: Lycocercus Handlirsch, 1906 
The family Lycocercidae was established by Handlirsch for Lyco- 
cercus and was characterized as having more numerous branches than 
Lithomanteidae 3 4 and as having cross veins forming at least partially 
a dense network of the dictyoneurid type. His interpretation of the 
fossils on which Lycocercus was based is only partly correct. The 
cross veins of the Lycocercidae are indeed denser, more irregular and 
more often connected by anastomoses than in Lithomanteidae but 
they do not form a real network of the dictyoneurid type. 
This revisiona.1 study of the type material has revealed three 
additional and important features for the Lycocercidae : ( 1 ) the 
hind wing is as long as but narrower than the fore wing; (2) the 
MP area is of triangular shape, with many branches; (3) the origins 
of MA and the first fork of MP are very close. 
The following families are considered by me to be synonymous 
with Lycocercidae: (1) Polycreagridae Handlirsch, 1906, based on 
the single genus Polycreagra Handlirsch, 1906; this genus differs 
from Lycocercus only by having more obliquely oriented branches, 
with longer forks and by having Rs more richly branched. (2) Apo- 
pappidae Lameere, 1917, based upon Apopappus Handlirsch, 1906, 
which differs from Lycocercus by having a more regular cross vena- 
tion and by having CuP somewhat richer in branches. (3) Pat- 
teiskyidae Laurentiaux, 1958, based upon the oldest palaeodictyop- 
teron so far known, Patteiskya bouckaertft (Namurian B, Germany), 
which differs from the other species of Lycocercus only in having 
M dividing more proximately; it is therefore inseparable from 
Lycocercus. 
Wings about equal in length, hind pair narrower, similar in vena- 
3 The family Lithomanteidae is here understood to include the genus 
Lithomantis Woodward (syn. Hadroneuria Handlirsch and Liihosialis Scud- 
der), Macroptera Laurentiaux (syn. Lusiella Laurentiaux and Texeira) and 
Synarmoge Handlirsch. 
4 In the figure published by Laurentiaux (1958, figure 1) Sc is correctly 
drawn but the subcostal area is broader proximally and is shaped as in 
Lycocercus goldenb ergi. In the figure published by Demoulin (1958, p. 359, 
fig. 1) the vein designated as the costa is actually the subcosta. Lycocercus 
bouckaerti is not represented by a hind wing but by a fore wing. 
