Article: Rochdalia, a Carboniferous insect nymph
Publication: Palaeontology
Volume:
10
Part:
2
Publication Date:
June
1967
Page(s):
307
–
313
Author(s):
W. D. Ian Rolfe
Abstract
Since its original description Rochdalia Woodward 1913 has been cited as an Upper Carboniferous representative of the branchiopod crustacean Order Anostraca or, more exceptionally, as one of the Trilobitomorpha. Restudy of the unique specimen from Sparth Bottoms, Lancashire, shows it to be a juvenile instar of an insect nymph. Such nymphs are difficult to classify, but Rochdalia can tentatively be identified with the family Breyeriidae in the Order Palaeodictyoptera.With the elimination of Branchipusites and possibly Opabinia from the Anostraca by Guthorl (1934) and Raymond (1935), only the poorly known Gilsonicaris is left as a Palaeozoic member of this order.