This is the “Fossil Friday” post #242.  Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website.  We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com.  Please include a short description or story.  Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world!

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This week’s Fossil Friday is another Mazon Creek arthropod—an insect known as a roachoid, an ancient precursor to modern cockroaches. Today, there are roughly 4,600 species of cockroaches. The earliest ancestors of the modern cockroach crown group, classified under the order Blattidae, have been traced back to Late Jurassic rocks in Russia. However, roachoids first made their appearance in the fossil record around 320 million years ago.

This specimen was collected from the Mazon River.  It opened via freeze/thaw just a few weeks ago.