Discovery of the First Blattinopsids of the Genus Glaphyrophlebia Handlirsch, 1906 (Paoliida: Blattinopsidae) in the Upper Carboniferous of Southern France and Spain and Hypothesis on the Diversification of the Family

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments to Nel et al. MS

The authors described a new species of Blattinospsidae from Carboniferous deposits of Spain based on a well-preserved forewing, and also provided an interesting discussion about the possible reason resulting in the diversity dynamics of this group. The manuscript is clearly written and contributes to our knowledge about fossil insect fauna, which will be suitable for publication with Diversity after a minor revision.

Comment 1. I strongly suggest the authors to add a line-drawing of the forewing of this new species and mark the key veins.

Comment 2. Several references should be cited when the authors talk about the global changes between the Carboniferous and the Permian in the second paragraph of introduction.

Author Response

The authors described a new species of Blattinospsidae from Carboniferous deposits of Spain based on a well-preserved forewing, and also provided an interesting discussion about the possible reason resulting in the diversity dynamics of this group. The manuscript is clearly written and contributes to our knowledge about fossil insect fauna, which will be suitable for publication with Diversity after a minor revision.

Comment 1. I strongly suggest the authors to add a line-drawing of the forewing of this new species and mark the key veins.

done

Comment 2. Several references should be cited when the authors talk about the global changes between the Carboniferous and the Permian in the second paragraph of introduction.

Slightly changed and added

Reviewer 2 Report

It is a generally clear and well-written manuscript. I suggest only minor revisions for this paper. The corrections/clarifications needed are indicated directly in the attached pdf of the orginal submission.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

We have followed the remarks in the various pdfs of proposals of changes

Reviewer 3 Report

Manuscript

Discovery of the first blattinopsids of the genus Glaphyrophle-bia Handlirsch, 1906 (Paoliida: Blattinopsidae) in the Upper Carboniferous of Southern France and Spain and hypothesis on the diversification of the family

Worthy

This paper describes the first fossil species, Glaphyrophlebia victoriensis sp. nov., of the family Blattinopsidae from a forewing collected in southern France together with the forewing fragment of a Glaphyrophlebia sp., the first fossil of the family from the Carboniferous in Spain. In addition, it is provided information on the palaeoflora found in the León deposits, and based on this, the authors hypothesize the palaeoenvironment in which Glaphyrophlebia lived. They propose that the diversification of the family was probably linked to the extension of arid biomes during the Permian after the collapse of the Carboniferous rainforest. These interesting new findings deserve to be published in Diversity.

General comments,

Although the work is clear, the authors should review the English because some sentences are wordy or unclear. In the first part of the PDF, I give some examples.

Material and Methods

The authors do not provide information about all the material studied regarding the plants studied in Figure 4 and the wing of Glaphyrophlebia pygmaea in Figure 3. It is unclear in which museum deposited these species or which literature the authors use to identify the specimens.

Systematic Palaeontology

Material - It should be name Type material

Include the heading: Type locality, formation and age, and provide the necessary information

Remarks.

It is difficult to have a clear idea of how it differs from other species of the same genus. The name of these species and the characters that differ from Glaphyrophlebia victoriensis sp. nov should be summarised in a table.

4. Macroevolutionary, Taphonomic, and Palaeoecological Comments

This section constitutes the discussion but includes observations, so it should be divided into two sections, one concerning the descriptions of the palaeoflora fossils of the environment in which Glaphyrophlebia lived. The other (discussion) is where inferences are to be made regarding the macroevolutionary, taphonomic and palaeoecological palaeoenvironment in which Glaphyrophlebia lived.

Paleoflora section. Separate the section into para-autochthonous and allochthonous flora and provide the names of the plant families. Within each family organize the plant species in alphabetical order.

It is not clear how they use the abbreviation cf (conferred) and it is not always clear what taxon it is conferred with. Examples

cf. Asterophyllites equisetiformis (Schlotheim, 1820) Brongniart, 1828,

Sphenophyllum cf. alatifolium

cf. Mixoneura sp.,

cf. Odontopteris sp.

Please add the author to name to Sphenopteris sp. aff. mathetii

What does mean Sphenopteris sp.-1?

Figures

Figure 1. Although the photos are good some parts are not easy to visualize.  I would suggest providing a line drawing of the holotype indicating with arrows the veins shown in Figure 2.

Figure 3- Provided information on the photo. Does the author, Gaëlle Doitteau, provide the figure? In that case, should be in the acknowledgment section. Is it a reproduction of a photo from a publication? In that case, should be stated.

Figures 4. Please indicate the family name of these plant species and provide information about this material in the material and method section

Figure 5: in the y axes, please separate the letters in the heading “number of species”

The other comments are in the PDF. 

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

We have followed all the remarks

added a list of the plants

corrected the english

thanks a lot

Reviewer 4 Report

This is a very interesting work, making a contribution to the study of Paleozoic insects. Descriptions are correct. Conclusions follow from the presented material. I recommend this manuscript for publication.

My comments:

The authors only mention “Aristov, D.S.; Rasnitsyn, A.P.; Naugolnykh, S.V. A review of Blattinopsida (Insecta) and flora of Latest Early and Early Middle Permian in European Russia” where the studies are. It is necessary to take into account and discuss the results on the diversification of this group obtained by Aristov et al. 2022.

“Remarks” should be divided into the rationale for the systematic position and given in “Remarks” and compared with other species in “Comparison”.

There is an opinion that Blattinopsida is a separate orded. The authors may have their own opinion on the systematic position of the group, but they should write that there is another point of view.

Author Response

The authors only mention “Aristov, D.S.; Rasnitsyn, A.P.; Naugolnykh, S.V. A review of Blattinopsida (Insecta) and flora of Latest Early and Early Middle Permian in European Russia” where the studies are. It is necessary to take into account and discuss the results on the diversification of this group obtained by Aristov et al. 2022.

Added, indeed we did not want to go too far in that direction because these ‘results’ are only speculative.

“Remarks” should be divided into the rationale for the systematic position and given in “Remarks” and compared with other species in “Comparison”.

done

There is an opinion that Blattinopsida is a separate orded. The authors may have their own opinion on the systematic position of the group, but they should write that there is another point of view.

Added as a remark