THE STRUCTURE OF DUN BARI A 
( PALAEODICTYOPTERA ) * 
By Jarmila Kukalova— Peck 
Department of Geology, Carleton University, 
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada 
The extinct order Palaeodictyoptera. is the most abundant paleop- 
terous group of insects found in Paleozoic deposits. During its 
geological range, from the Upper Carboniferous (Namurian) to the 
Permian (Leonard), the order radiated into extremely diverse lines 
with adaptations to many environments and with various specializa- 
tions. In contrast to this speciation, fossils are relatively scarce in 
spite of their wide distribution. Furthermore, the aerial way of life 
virtually eliminates the finding of specimens deposited in assemblages 
of their original and natural communities. These circumstances have 
greatly reduced the chances of collecting many specimens belonging 
to one species, with the result that there are almost no data available 
for intraspecific variations in size, wing venation, and especially sec- 
ondary sexual characters. 
The single exception to this is the case of Dunbaria fasciipennis 
Tillyard ( Spilapteridae) from Permian (Leonard) deposits of Elmo, 
Kansas. Tillyard based his original description of this species (1924) 
on three specimens; later (1925) he discussed another three specimens 
and dealt with the wing venation (in the light of Lameere’s vena- 
tional concepts) and with the terminal abdominal appendages. All 
six specimens are in the collection of the Peabody Museum, Yale 
University, and are numbered as follows: holotype 1001 ab, allo- 
type 1002 ab, paratype 1050, and specimens 5020, 5021 and 5022. 1 
During my stay at Harvard University in 1968, Professor Car- 
penter encouraged me to review all of the specimens of fasciipennis 
and he placed at my disposal three more specimens from his collection 
in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, num- 
bered 3056 ab, 3057 ab, and 3058. This series of nine specimens is 
*This research has been aided by grant number GB-7308 and number 
GB-27333 from the National Science Foundation (F. M. Carpenter, principal 
investigator, Harvard University). 
Specimen number 5020 in the Peabody Museum was designated by Till- 
yard in 1925 (page 335) as a paratype of fasciipennis. However, since this 
particular specimen was not mentioned or even seen by Tillyard at the time 
of his original description of the species (1924), it has no status as a 
paratype. 
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