WING FOLDING IN PTERYGOTE INSECTS, AND THE OLDEST DIAPHANOPTERODEA FROM THE EARLY LATE CARBONIFEROUS OF WEST-GERMANY

The most primitive known wing articulation and wing folding in the Pterygota occurs in the extinct Palaeoptera the Diaphanopterodea. The oldest Diaphanopterodea Namurodiapha sippelorum n.gen., n.sp. (Namurodiaphidae n.fam.) is described from the early Late Carboniferous (Namurian B) of Hagen-Vorhalle, Ruhr area, West Germany. Unlike other Palaeoptera, the Diaphanopterodea show similar apomorphic venational features and parallel evolutionary trends in wing evolution, as in the unrelated Neoptera. The wing articulation and the evolution of wing folding in the earliest known Palaeoptera and Neoptera are examined. -from Authors