Insecta - Paoliida - Anthracoptilidae
Mesoptilus was named with two species (M. dolloi and M. sellardsi) by Lameere, without explicitly designating one as the type. In 1919, Handlirsch named Stenoneurella fayoliana and Pseudooedischia berthaudi for the same specimens. Later, Handlirsch (1937) implicitly treated M. sellardsi as the type because he stated that P. berthaudi was a synonym of M. sellardsi but recombined M. dolloi as Stenoneurella dolloi. It is unclear to me whether Handlirsch was the first reviser or if his actions count as designating a type. Nevertheless, current practice treats Mesoptilus and Pseudooedischia as valid genera, and Mesoptilus dolloi as a valid species.
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Synonym: Stenoneurella Handlirsch 1919
Full reference: A. Lameere. 1917. Revision sommaire des insectes fossiles du Stéphanien de Commentry. Bulletin du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle 23:141-200
Parent taxon: Anthracoptilidae according to Z. Y. Guan et al. 2016
See also Carpenter 1992, Clapham 2023, Handlirsch 1919, Handlirsch 1922, Handlirsch 1937, Nel et al. 2015, Rasnitsyn and Aristov 2004 and Rasnitsyn and Aristov 2013
Sister taxa: Adiphlebia, Afrocladus, Anthracoptilus, Carrizocladus, Graticladus, Homocladus, Jarmilacladus, Lodevocladus, Mycteroptila, Paracladus, Rhinomaloptila, Spargoptilon, Strephocladus, Strephoneura, Strephoptilus, Westphaloptilus
Subtaxa: Mesoptilus carpenteri Mesoptilus dolloi
Type: Mesoptilus dolloi
Ecology:
Distribution:
• Permian of United States (1: Kansas collection)
• Carboniferous of France (1)
Total: 2 collections each including a single occurrence
Specimen images are retrieved through the ePANDDA API.
Click image to enlarge. Click to access iDigBio record.