Mesoblattina Geinitz, 1880

Vrsansky, Peter & Ansorge, Jörg, 2007, Lower Jurassic cockroaches (Insecta: Blattaria) from Germany and England, African Invertebrates 48 (1), pp. 103-126 : 107

Genus Mesoblattina Geinitz, 1880

Mesoblattina: Geinitz 1880: 519 .

Type species: Blattina (Mesoblattina) protypa Geinitz, 1880 ; Lower Toarcian , Dobbertin, Germany .

Diagnosis: Forewings coriaceous, well sclerotised, with strictly parallel borders; Sc simple; R very straight, not distinguished into R and RS, with simple branches (apical branches are the exception); A not branched up to the apical third, clavus very short. Local irregularities of venation present.

Composition: Type species only.

Remarks: Other species previously assigned to Mesoblattina do not belong to this genus nor to the family Mesoblattinidae , and should be transferred, in most cases, into Caloblattinidae or into a new family (Vrsanský v, in press).

The forewing venation generally resembles Praeblattella Vrsanský v, 2003, which differs in having fully regular venation. Most closely related is apparently Mongolblatta Vrsanský v, 2004 from the Tithonian of Shar-Teg in Mongolia (synapomorphic in having coriaceous forewings) which differs in having regular venation and tuberculated anal veins (apomorphies).

With respect to all other representatives of the family Mesoblattinidae , even the oldest known is apomorphic in having coriaceous wing membranes.A phylogenetic system of the Mesoblattinidae has been presented by Vrsanský v (2003).