Mesoblattinidae

Mesoblattinidae is an extinct, problematic family of cockroaches known from the Mesozoic. It was formerly considered a wastebasket taxon for Mesozoic cockroaches, but the family has subsequently been better defined, with many taxa transferred to Caloblattinidae. It is considered to have close affinities with Blattidae and Ectobiidae, as well as possibly Blaberidae. The family first appeared by the Early Jurassic. They are considered to represent amongst the oldest groups of modern cockroaches, and like them are thought to have laid oothecae. Due to the poor ability of forewing venation to correctly classify cockroaches to extensive homoplasy, the value of this family as a taxonomic unit has been strongly questioned, with some authors considering the family a nomen dubium.

Mesoblattinidae

Ghedoghedo · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikidata/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
BlattodeaPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Arthropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Insecta

Time the record covers

At least 245 million years on record.

The record covers at least 307.4 Mya to 61.66 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 309.8 Mya to 56 Mya.

Carboniferous — about 1 of 232 occurrencesPermian — about 1 of 232 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 0 of 232 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 4 of 232 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 7 of 232 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 18 of 232 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 7 of 232 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 37 of 232 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 140 of 232 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 14 of 232 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 2 of 232 occurrencesEocene — about 0 of 232 occurrences315–306 Mya — about 1 occurrence306–297 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences297–288 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences253–244 Mya — about 4 occurrences244–236 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences236–227 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences227–218 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences218–209 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences209–200 Mya — about 8 occurrences200–192 Mya — about 4 occurrences192–183 Mya — about 7 occurrences183–174 Mya — about 4 occurrences174–165 Mya — about 5 occurrences165–157 Mya — about 4 occurrences157–148 Mya — about 23 occurrences148–139 Mya — about 29 occurrences139–130 Mya — about 19 occurrences130–121 Mya — about 29 occurrences121–113 Mya — about 54 occurrences113–104 Mya — about 15 occurrences104–95 Mya — about 14 occurrences95–86 Mya — about 4 occurrences86–77 Mya — about 2 occurrences77–69 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences69–60 Mya — about 1 occurrence60–51 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences307.4 Mya61.66 Mya315 Mya51 Mya

232 occurrences of Mesoblattinidae on record, most of them in the Early Cretaceous. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

232 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

53 formations

Dzun-Bain — 45.45°N, 99.13°EDzun-Bain — 45.45°N, 99.13°EJinju — 36.19°N, 128.63°EJinju — 35.16°N, 128.11°EJinju — 35.08°N, 128.05°EJinju — 35.75°N, 128.37°EJinju — 35.87°N, 128.41°EJinju — 35.22°N, 128.15°EJinju — 36.25°N, 128.63°EKarabastau — 42.90°N, 70.00°EKarabastau — 42.69°N, 70.41°EKarabastau — 42.95°N, 69.92°ELulworth — 51.08°N, 1.98°WLulworth — 50.60°N, 1.95°WSolnhofen — 48.91°N, 11.14°ECrato — 7.13°S, 39.70°WLa Pedrera de Rúbies — 42.02°N, 0.89°ESharteg — 44.14°N, 95.79°ESharteg — 44.09°N, 95.69°EGuanyintan — 26.49°N, 111.89°EGuanyintan — 27.35°N, 113.45°EZaza — 53.30°N, 112.09°EYixian — 41.62°N, 120.83°EGrès à Voltzia — 48.71°N, 7.36°EGrès à Voltzia — 48.72°N, 7.17°EDurlston — 50.60°N, 1.95°WGurvan-Eren — 46.38°N, 93.95°Ela Pedrera de Rubies — 42.01°N, 0.96°ELaiyang — 37.05°N, 120.96°ELaiyang — 36.78°N, 120.67°EInsektenmergel — 47.47°N, 8.23°EHanshan — 31.74°N, 118.06°ELa Huérguina — 40.13°N, 2.01°WDoronino — 51.99°N, 113.24°EHaifanggou — 41.75°N, 120.80°ESinuiju — 40.08°N, 124.42°EKitadani — 36.12°N, 136.54°EBlackstone — 27.62°S, 152.75°E

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The named rock units Mesoblattinidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 29 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 46 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Mesoblattinidae and its relatives

Early Cretaceous

Where Mesoblattinidae and its relatives were recorded in the Early Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

4,420 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 143 sites for Mesoblattinidae, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

83 references

Each of the 232 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 71 further references are not listed. Each entry links to the Paleobiology Database's own record for the work.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Mesoblattinidae

Credit
Ghedoghedo
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Mesoblattinidae was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itBlattodea through timeFormations of the Early CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Handlirsch 1906