1983] 
Burnham — Geraridae 
51 
Convinced that the Protorthoptera should reflect direct relation- 
ship to the Orthoptera, Sharov narrowed the order to include only 
a single family, the Sthenaropodidae, synonymized here with the 
Geraridae. Unfortunately, not having had the opportunity to 
examine the Commentry types, he erroneously believed that the 
family consisted entirely of saltatorial forms and used this to justify 
its placement in the Protorthoptera. The various families previously 
assigned to the Protorthoptera were placed in the Paraplecoptera 
(containing the Geraridae), and the true Orthoptera. More complete 
accounts of these various classifications are given by Carpenter 
(1966, 1977) and Sharov ( 1968). 
The most recent classification of Orthopteroidea was proposed by 
Rasnitsyn (1980) in his work entitled The Historical Development 
of the Insecta. Here he distributes the Paleozoic orthopteroids 
among ten separate orders and proposes a new order Gerarida for 
which Geraridae is the type family. The order Gerarida includes six 
Mid to Late Upper Carboniferous families (previously assigned to 
the Protoblattodea and Paraplecoptera), which Rasnitsyn consid- 
ered related to one another on the basis of their elongate protho- 
races and free, highly mobile heads. He includes in this order the 
Eucaenidae, Spanioderidae, Dieconeuridae, Ischnoneuridae, Cne- 
midolestidae, and Geraridae. 
Rasnitsyn ( 1980: 165) admits that recognition of the Gerarida and 
its division into these families is “extremely provisional owing to 
insufficient study of its members.” Inasmuch as this revision of the 
Geraridae has shown the degree to which detailed study of a particu- 
lar taxon can affect higher levels of paleoentomological classifica- 
tion, it would seem premature to accept Rasnitsyn’s ordinal 
classification at this time. In my opinion, it is preferable to continue 
to recognize the Protorthoptera sensu lato until we have valid syn- 
apomorphies by which the true monophyletic groups in the Protor- 
thoptera can be recognized. 
The relationship of the Geraridae to other Carboniferous Protor- 
thoptera must consequently remain unresolved. Nevertheless, there 
are several interesting possibilities to consider. The first of these is 
that Rasnitsyn may be correct in grouping together those families 
with elongate prothoracic segments. It is perfectly possible that they 
