Archimylacris (meaning "primitive Mylacris", in reference to another species of Carboniferous cockroach)[clarification needed] is an extinct genus of cockroach-like blattopterans, a group of insects ancestral to cockroaches, mantids, and termites.

Archimylacris
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Blattoptera
Family: Archimylacridae
Subfamily: Archimylacrinae
Genus: Archimylacris
Scudder, 1868
Type species
Archimylacris acadica
Scudder, 1868
Other species
  • Archimylacris atrebatica Pruvost, 1919
  • Archimylacris belgica Handlirsch, 1904
  • Archimylacris bertrandi Pruvost, 1919
  • Archimylacris bucheti Pruvost, 1912
  • Archimylacris calopteryx Handlirsch, 1906
  • Archimylacris eggintoni Bolton, 1921
  • Archimylacris johnsoni Woodward, 1887
  • Archimylacris lerichei Pruvost, 1919
  • Archimylacris lubnensis Kušta, 1883
  • Archimylacris oberstebrinki Schmidt, 1962
  • Archimylacris parallelum Scudder, 1879
  • Archimylacris? paucinervis Scudder, 1890
  • Archimylacris regularis Bolton, 1934
  • Archimylacris scalaris Bolton, 1930
  • Archimylacris schmidti Boersma, 1969
  • Archimylacris simoni Pruvost, 1919
  • Archimylacris straeleni Pruvost, 1930
  • Archimylacris venusta Lesquereux, 1860

Archimylacris lived on the warm, swampy forest floors of North America and Europe 300 million years ago, in the Late Carboniferous times. Like modern cockroaches, this insect had a large head shield with long, curved antennae, or feelers, and folded wings. To a modern observer, it would likely appear as a moderate-sized cockroach, with a "tail" (ovipositor) in the female. Presumably, its habits would be cockroach-like, too, scurrying along the undergrowth eating anything edible, possibly falling prey to labyrinthodont amphibians and very early reptiles. The average length of Archimylacris species was 2–3 cm.[1]

References

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