New palaeodictyopterid Paraostrava stanislavi gen. n., sp. n. is described from the Upper Carboniferous (Duckmantian) deposits of the Jan Šverma Mine in northern Bohemia (Czech Republic). The new taxon based on hindwing venation is attributed to Homoiopteridae and compared with the other homoiopterid and heolid genera within Homoiopteroidea. Due to the poor state preservation of Boltopruvostia robusta, we consider this taxon as Palaeodictyoptera: Homoiopteridae of uncertain position and restore the well defined genus Ostrava Kukalová, 1960 (type species Ostrava nigra Kukalová, 1960). Some uncertainties in the current state of knowledge on the taxonomy and phylogeny of the Homoiopteridae are pointed out. The characters matrix used to separate the genera of Homoiopteroidea is included.
The new family Juraperlidae is erected for the new genus and species Juraperla daohugouensis from the Chinese Middle Jurassic. Its wing venation has strong similarities with that of Mesozoic taxa currently included in the group "Grylloblattodea", but its character "three (or four?)-segmented tarsi" questions its potential inclusion into the same order with the modern Grylloblattodea. This suggests that the systematic assignments of several fossil "grylloblattid" species, mainly based on wing venation, could be very different.
The most recent representative of the semi-aquatic insect family Chresmodidae is described from the Lebanese Cenomanian marine lithographic limestone. Its highly specialized legs, with a high number of tarsomeres, never observed in other orders of insects, were probably adapted for water surface skating. We hypothesize the occurrence of a unique, extraordinary "antenna" mutation affecting the distal part of the legs of the Chresmodidae, maybe homeotic or affecting some genes that participate in the leg development and segmentation. The Chresmodidae had a serrate ovipositor adapted to endophytic egg laying in floating or aquatic plants. They were probably predaceous on nektonic small animals. As the Chresmodidae and the aquatic water skaters of the bug families Veliidae and Gerridae were contemporaneous during at least the Lower Cretaceous, these insects probably did not cause the extinction of this curious group.
A new Lower Cretaceous cicada, Liassotettigarcta africana sp. n. (Tettigarctidae), is described From Tunisia, based on forewing impression. A brief overview of African fossil insects is presented.
Two aeshnid dragonflies are described from the Lower Miocene deposits in the Bílina mine in the north of the Czech Republic, including a new genus and species of Anactini, Merlax bohemicus gen. n., sp. n., and a further specimen assigned to the genus Aeshna.
Protomyrmeleon daohugouensis sp. n. and Protomyrmeleon lini sp. n., two new species of Protomyrmeleontidae from the Middle Jurassic of Jiulongshan Formation are the first Chinese representatives of this Mesozoic odonatopteran family. The type specimen of P. lini is exceptionally well preserved, showing several particular wing and body structures that were unknown, viz. unique shape of tarsal claws, extreme thoracic skewness, presence of three pairs of long spurs on all femora and tibiae. The type "A" (sensu Nel et al., 2005) of wing venation (i.e. with a very long bridge between IR2 and RP3/4) corresponds to that of the protomyrmeleontid fore wing. The nearly complete absence of the meso-metathoracic interpleural suture, newly discovered in the Protomyrmeleontidae, can be considered as a synapomorphy of the clade Protozygoptera + Odonata.
Elektrophthiria magnifica gen. n., sp. n., oldest bee fly of the bombyliid subfamily Phthiriinae, is described from the Lowermost Eocene amber of Oise (France). It suggests at least a Late Cretaceous age for this group, coincident with the diversification of the flowering plants. Eurodoliopteryx inexpectatus gen. n., sp. n., oldest representative of the mythicomyiid subfamily Glabellulinae, is probably the sister genus of extant Doliopteryx, distributed in Africa and the Arabian peninsula, under very arid conditions. This discovery suggests a relatively humid forest close to a river with a drier surrounding area for the palaeoenvironment of the Oise amber.
Raphogla rubra gen. n., sp. n., oldest representative of the (Tettigoniidea & Gryllidea) is described from the Upper Permian of the Lodève basin (France). Its phylogenetic relationships within the Ensifera are discussed. The new taxon occupies a very basal position, probably as sister group of the whole group (Tettigoniidea & Gryllidea).
The unusual wing characters of the Permian insect Permostridulus brongniarti gen. n., sp. n. justifies the creation of a new family, the Permostridulidae fam. n., within the Panorthoptera. Phylogenetic relationships with the extinct order Caloneurodea, related to the Orthoptera (crickets, grasshoppers), are assumed. This assumption suggests an occurrence of the Permostridulidae at least since the Upper Carboniferous. The most prominent feature of the wing venation is a stridulatory apparatus, nonhomologous with those previously known in "panorthopterid" lineages. This is the oldest recorded sound-producing device of an animal.
Paleoripiphorus deploegi gen. n., sp. n. and Macrosiagon ebboi sp. n., described from two French Albo-Cenomanian ambers (mid Cretaceous), are the oldest definitely identified representatives of the Ripiphoridae: Ripiphorinae. They belong to or are closely related to extant genera of this coleopteran subfamily. Together with Myodites burmiticus Cockerell, 1917 from the Albian Burmese amber, they demonstrate that the group is distinctly older than suggested by the hitherto available fossil record. By inference after the biology of the extant Ripiphorinae, Macrosiagon ebboi may have been parasitic on wasps and Paleoripiphorus deploegi on bees, suggesting that Apoidea may have been present in the Lower Cretaceous.