1966] 
Kukalova — Protelytroptera 
9i 
Protelytroptera. Carpenter (1954, p. 798) referred the family to 
the Protelytroptera, which he considered to be a highly specialized 
order, resembling the Coleoptera but actually related to the Blat- 
todea. Rohdendorf (1962) referred the family to the Coleopteroidea, 
incertae sedis. 
In the Tillyard collection at the British Museum there are 7 com- 
plete fore wings of the family Protocoleidae well preserved enough 
to confirm the correctness of Carpenter’s conclusion (1954). The 
specimens show the prominent, typical costal expansion (not pre- 
served in the holotype of P. mitchelli ), a well developed sutural mar- 
gin, a distinct patch of setae and, in spite of the unusual richness of 
branches, a protelytropterous pattern of venation. 
The family Protocoleidae includes the largest forms among Pro- 
telytroptera and is well removed from all other families, excepting 
the Permophilidae, which also have the wing surface covered with 
both granulation and tubercles, a similar outline of the wing and a 
broad subcostal area. 
Two other species of elytrophorous insects were described by Till- 
yard from the Permian of New South Wales: Permofulgor bel- 
montensis Tillyard (1917) and Permofulgor indistinctus Tillyard 
(1922). The family Permofulgoridae was established for the genus 
Permofulgor by Tillyard in 1917 and was placed in the order Hemip- 
tera. Subsequently (1926, p. 186), Tillyard became convinced that 
these fossils were related to Protocoleus and assigned them to the 
Protocoleoptera. They are presumably protelytropterous, also, but 
because of poor preservation and the fragmentary nature of these 
fossils, generic and family diagnoses cannot be made. 
Since the venation of the Protocoleidae is both complicated and 
indistinct, drawings are unusually difficult to make. Fortunately, 
venational details are very variable and of little use at the specific 
level. 
Geological occurrence of the family: Upper Permian of Australia 
(N.S.W.) 
Genera included: Protocoleus Tillyard, 1924; Phyllelytron , new 
genus; Austr elytron, new genus. 
Genus Protocoleus Tillyard 
Protocoleus Tillyard, 1924, Proc. Linn. Soc., N.S.W. 49(4) :434; Tillyard, 
1931, Amer. Journ. Sci. 21:234. 
Diagnosis. Fore wing: tegminous, darkly pigmented; wing surface 
covered by flat, regularly arranged tubercles (not occurring on veins) 
