| True, this insect specimen did not come from the classic late Pennsylvanian fossil-bearing strata featured here at Late Pennsylvanian Fossils In Kansas-- but, of course, it indeed came from the Sunflower State of Kansas; it's just a tad younger by a mere handful of millions of years than late Pennsylvanian times. It's an extinct insect that belongs to a primtive order called Palaeodictyoptera (not a dragonfly, though in superficial morphological aspect it certainly resembles one), a specimen collected from the lower Permian Carlton Limestone member of the Wellington Formation (the Permian Period succeeds the Pennsylvanian Period on the geologic time scale). Called scientifically, Dunbaria fascipennis. Wingspread is 35 millimeters, by the way (1.38 inches). Photograph courtesy David Grimaldi and Michael S. Engel. |