STUDIES ON NORTH AMERICAN CARBONIFEROUS 
INSECTS. 7. THE STRUCTURE AND RELATIONSHIPS OF 
EUBLEPTUS DANIELS/ (PALAEODICTYOPTEKA)* 
By Frank M. Carpenter 
Museum of Comparative Zoology 
Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 02138 
Eubleptus danielsi was described by Handlirsch in 1906 from a 
single, poorly preserved specimen in a concretion from the Francis 
Creek Shale, Illinois (Middle Pennsylvanian). The systematic posi- 
tion of the insect has been controversial. It was placed by Hand- 
lirsch in a new family, Eubleptidae, in the order Palaeodictyoptera. 
However, Martynov, in 1938, expressed doubt about its assignment 
to that order, and in 1952 Laurentiaux transferred it to a new order, 
Eubleptidodea, which Rohdendorf accepted in the Osnovy Paleon- 
tologii in 1962. Neither Laurentiaux nor Rohdendorf gave a diagno- 
sis of the new order, although vague reference was made to the 
presence of large eyes and to the absence of pronotal lobes. From 
my study of the reverse half of the holotype (all that is now known) 1 
came to the tentative conclusion (1965) that the insect was a member 
of the Palaeodictyoptera, probably related to the family Spilap- 
teridae. 
During the past decade, many additional specimens of Eubleptus 
have been found in a strip-mine pit on the Will-Kankakee County 
line, Illinois, mostly by private collectors. These new specimens, 
some of which are exceptionally well preserved, have been loaned to 
me for study. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of 
my examination of these specimens and to discuss the relationships 
of the insect, as it is now known. 
I am grateful to Mr. Frederick J. Collier of the Department of 
Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, 
for the loan of the holotype of Eubleptus danielsi; and to Mrs. J. S. 
Lawless of the Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale Univer- 
sity, for the loan of the holotype of Athymodictya parva, a synonym 
♦Partial financial support of this research is gratefully acknowledged to the National 
Science Foundation, Grant No. DEB 82 05398, F.M. Carpenter, principal investi- 
gator. 
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