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Possibly Oxfordian (Upper Jurassic) cockroach assemblage (Insecta: Blattaria) from the Phra Wihan Formation in Thailand

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Abstract

The Jurassic is the most explored time period regarding the cockroach fossil record, with roughly 15,000 cockroach specimens already collected. Here we report a new assemblage from the Phra Wihan Formation of Thailand comprising four new species: Falcatusiblatta kohringi sp. n. (n = 17), Raphidiomima predlzena sp. n. (n = 1), Elisamoides cudak sp. n. (n = 2) and Praeblattella krzeminskii sp. n. (n = 1). The composition of this assemblage suggests the Upper Jurassic age (contemporaneous with the Karatau Lagerstätte in Kazakhstan), confirmed with the presence of predominantly Oxfordian spinicaudatan, Pseudograpta Novojilov, 1954, although, a Middle Jurassic age cannot be excluded. The low diversity of cockroach fossils encountered is surprising considering the tropical position of ancient Thailand. The taphocoenosis only contains disarticulated wings while mutations expressed as vein deformities are extremely rare.

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Acknowledgements

I thank Rolf Kohring, Thomas Schlüter (Germany), Professor Wieslaw Krzeminski and Aneta Garbula (Krakow, Poland) for collecting, providing and catalogisation of the samples. Manja Hethke (Freie Universität Berlin, Germany) is acknowledged for the spinicaudatan determination and text editing. Peter Vršanský (SAS, Bratislava) is acknowledged for advice, and two anonymous reviewers for critically reviewing the manuscript. We thank Miroslav Boča (Institute of Inorganic Chemistry SAS, Bratislava) for SEM assistance. This research was financed by the UNESCO–AMBA/ MVTS supporting grant of Presidium of the Slovak Academy of Sciences; the Slovak Scientific Grant Agency VEGA 2/0113/22. Part of the Governmental High school BARS 2020 competition (Ministry of Education, Science and Sport of the Slovak Republic; Embassy of the Russian Federation in Bratislava; Embassy of the Republic of India in Bratislava). DLJQ was supported by a senior postdoctoral fellowship from the Rachadaphiseksomphot Fund, Graduate School, Chulalongkorn University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, Comenius University Bratislava, Mlynská Dolina, 842 48, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Zuzana Kováčová

  2. Institute of Zoology V.V.I., Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská Cesta 9, 840 06, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Zuzana Kováčová

  3. Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University Bratislava, Mlynská Dolina, 841 04, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Matej Majtaník

  4. Integrative Ecology Laboratory, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Phayathai Road, Pathumwan, BKK 10330, Thailand

    Donald L. J. Quicke

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M.M. provided photodocumentation, Z.K. performed the main research, DQ edited the text.

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Kováčová, Z., Majtaník, M. & Quicke, D.L. Possibly Oxfordian (Upper Jurassic) cockroach assemblage (Insecta: Blattaria) from the Phra Wihan Formation in Thailand. Biologia 78, 1433–1446 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11756-022-01294-2

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